Guiyang Longdongbao Airport in southwest China's Guizhou Province will see the first flight from Macao on April 17, an airport official said.

Air Macao, the flagship airline in the special administrative region, will employ Airbus A321 for the route, the official with the Guizhou Airport Group said.

The flight will take off from Macao every Monday and Thursday at 12:15 a.m. and arrive at Guiyang at 1:45 p.m., and leave Guiyang at 2:45 p.m. and return to Macao at 4:20 p.m.

The route will mark the first direct flight to Guiyang of an airline outside the Chinese mainland.

An air route to the Republic of Korea is hopefully to be launched later this year, said the official.

The Guiyang airport transported 814,654 people and 9,000 tons of cargo in the first quarter this year, up 25 percent and 22 percent year-on-year respectively.

(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2006)