Air Canada will launch a non-stop flight from Canada's Toronto to China's capital Beijing from June 2, the company said.

It will be the first non-stop air route linking eastern part of Canada to China's mainland, the company said.

The Beijing-Toronto flight will take 13 hours, four hours less than the former route via Vancouver. The opening of the new route will provide more choices to passengers from China to South America, as the flight via Toronto could take four to ten hours less than flying through European countries.

The flight will be served by A340-300 passenger airplane. On every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, flight AC031 will take off from Toronto at 10:00 a.m. local time and on every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, flight AC032 will fly from Beijing at 1:20 p.m. Beijing time.

As the largest air carrier between Canada and China, Air Canada already has non-stop air routes from Shanghai and Beijing to Vancouver, on Canada's west coast.

(Xinhua News Agency March 4, 2005)