A Boeing-737 plane took off from Taoxian International Airport in Shenyang, capital northeast China's Liaoning Province, Sunday morning for Frankfurt, Germany, marking the operation of the city's first direct air route to Europe.

Another two air routes connecting Shenyang, one of the leading heavy industrial centers in the country, with Los Angeles in the United States and Sydney in Australia will open later Sunday.

According to Air China, operator of the three routes, there will be seven flights on the Shenyang-Frankfurt route per week, four flights between Shenyang and Los Angeles every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and three flights to Sydney every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Currently, Taoxian airport has opened 71 routes, 55 heading for domestic cities and 16 for foreign cities.

These are the first three air routes between Shenyang and America, Europe and Oceania. Previously, passengers traveling to Europe and the United States had to change plane in Seoul or Pusan, the Republic of Korea.

Airport authorities said they are planning to open new routes to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Ottawa in Canada and London of Britain in the near future, in a bid to turn the airport into a regional hub of air traffic.

(People's Daily March 29, 2004)