A direct flight was launched Tuesday between Fuzhou, capital of East China's Fujian province and Paris, capital of France.

The new route, operated by Xiamen Air, will be the airliner's first intercontinental route to Europe and the eleventh worldwide.

Three round trips are scheduled every week with a Boeing Dreamliner 787. The 13-hour-and-25-min flight will depart from Fuzhou Changle International Airport at 00:30 a.m. Beijing time every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, and arrive in Paris at 6:55 a.m. local time. The return flight will leave Paris at 13:30 p.m. local time and arrive in Fuzhou at 7:30 a.m. Beijing time.

Fuzhou has become the eighth city in China that opens direct flight to Paris, one of the most popular tourism destinations worldwide. Statistics show the capital city received 1.1 million Chinese tourists in 2017.

Xiamen Airlines, a Chinese passenger airline based in Xiamen, Fujian, houses a fleet of 200 aircrafts as of May and its intercontinental destination, prior to Paris, had reached the cities including Amsterdam, Sydney, Vancouver and New York.