An Airbus A330-200 aircraft performing flight MU707 with 226 passengers onboard took off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport at 0:45 a.m. on June 23, marking the successful inaugural flight of China Eastern Airlines' Shanghai-Prague route.

Before the departure, China Eastern held a brief ceremony at Pudong airport. The company president Liu Shaoyong led the delegation flying with the inaugural flight to Prague.

The Shanghai-based carrier operates the Prague service thrice weekly, using a two-class 264-seat Airbus A330 aircraft, configured with 24 flat-bed seats in business class and 240 seats in economy.

The outbound flight is scheduled to depart Shanghai Pudong International Airport every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 0:45 a.m., arriving at Prague's Vaclav Havel Airport at 6:35 a.m. The return flight will leave the Czech capital at 8:35 a.m. and land back in Shanghai at 1:05 a.m. the next day.

China Eastern plans to open four long-haul routes from Shanghai to Amsterdam, Madrid, Prague and St. Petersburg, Russia in late June, to further enhance its presence in Europe.

The airline said it will boost international capacities 30% on European routes by adding 40 more weekly flights after opening these four new routes.

The new flights to St Petersburg started on June 21, followed by Shanghai-Prague route on June 23. The carrier will then launch two four-time weekly services from Shanghai Pudong International Airport to Amsterdam and Madrid on June 26 and June 28, respectively.

With the launch of Shanghai-Prague service, China Eastern becomes the third Chinese carrier flying to the Czech capital and competes with Hainan Airlines and Sichuan Airlines on Beijing-Prague and Chengdu-Prague routes.

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