Chinese and Japanese air carriers started operating flights on Saturday between Tokyo's Haneda Airport and Shanghai's Hongqiao International Airport to mark the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The inauguration of the service showed that Japan and China are becoming closer, Japanese Land and Transport Minister Tetsuzo Fuyashiba said at a ceremony held at Haneda. He said he believed exchanges between the two neighbors would become more frequent.

After the ceremony, the first flight, carrying 247 passengers, departed Haneda for Shanghai.

The flights between downtown areas of the two metropolises provide faster trips than those between Narita and Pudong airports, previously the only direct route from Tokyo to Shanghai.

Haneda and Hongqiao airports are mainly used for domestic flights and are closer to downtowns of the two cities.

The new service provides four roundtrip flights a day, operated by Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways, China Eastern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines.

Civil aviation services between China and Japan have been growing steadily in the past three decades, with 16 Chinese and Japanese airlines now operating 738 flights a week between 19 Chinese cities and 17 Japanese cities.

(Shanghai Daily October 8, 2007)