A Boeing 777 passenger plane of the British Airways landed at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport Thursday morning, marking the official operation of the air route between London and Shanghai.

This is the first direct British Airways flight to Shanghai.

Chairman of the British Airways Martin Broughton, who arrived in Shanghai aboard the flight, said Shanghai is a vigorous and flourishing city and this flight has been in the works for a long time.

Broughton called the successful landing in Shanghai "an important symbol and milestone for British Airways."

The British Airways will operate five flights between Shanghai and London weekly.

British Airways operated only six direct flights to Beijing weekly before 2004 and the Virgin Atlantic Airways operates four flights directly to Shanghai.

Flights between China and Britain have increased rapidly since the governments of the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on increasing flights last February.

Currently, 25 passenger flights and six cargo flights are shuttling between the two countries each week. The figures are expected to rise to 31 and seven beginning next March.

(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2005)