Lufthansa, Germany's flagship carrier as well as the country's largest airline, on Tuesday launched a direct route between Frankfurt and Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province.

The route's three weekly flights will be serviced by Airbus A340 aircraft, which have 266 seats. The flight time is expected to be about 10 hours, with a total route length of 8,030 km, authorities with Lufthansa said.

The flight takes off at 12:15 a.m. on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from Shenyang's Taoxian International Airport, and arrives the same day at Frankfurt Airport at 5:30 a.m. local time.

The route is the first direct flight linking northeast China to Europe, as passengers from northeast China previously had to fly to Beijing, Shanghai or Seoul to board flights to Europe.

Kay Kratky, a Lufthansa board member, said the new route will contribute to economic and cultural communication between the two destinations.