Xinhua Airline recently started a return flight between Beijing and Urumqi. A flight runs every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. It takes off from Beijing at 8 am and returns from Urumqi at 12:35 pm .

Air ticket shortage

Air tickets for flights between many tourism hotspots in China are enjoying a buoyant trade once again thanks to the upcoming festival season.

Southern Airlines says there are almost no tickets left for flights from Shenzhen to Guilin, Haikou, Kunming and Harbin for the last 10 days of this month.

To try and meet demand, the airline has decided to add more flights from December 20 between these cities.

One added flight leaves Shenzhen at 9:30 pm for Guiling daily and returns from Guilin at 11 pm.

A new flight is also added between Shenzhen and Harbin every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. It takes off from Shenzhen at 9:35 am and returns from Harbin at 2 pm.

To Kunming, the new flight leaves from Shenzhen at 5:20 pm and returns at 8 pm.

Yunnan Airlines

Yunnan Airlines has launched flights to Malaysia this month. Every Wednesday and Saturday, there is a flight to Kuala Lumpur from Kunming. It leaves from Kunming at 2 pm.

Yunnan Airlines also began a flight from Kunming to Seoul this month.

It takes off from Kunming at 10 am every Wednesday and returns from Seoul at 3:20 pm the same day.

Air China

The carrier has decided to offer regular flights between Beijing and Thailand's Puji Island . A Boeing 767 will fly from Beijing at 7 pm every Tuesday and Friday, returning from the island at 1 am the following morning.

Northern Airlines

Northern Airlines has added flights from Shenyang, Dalian and Changchun to Haikou.

This is the first time that the airline has offered flights from the three cities in Northeast China to South China's Hainan Province.

The flight from Shenyang to Haikou takes off from Shenyang at 2 pm every Thursday and Sunday and returns from Haikou at 7:02 pm. Flights from Dalian leave at 8:10 am on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday and return from Haikou at 2:10 pm. They have a stopover in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province.

Flights from Changchun takes off at 9:20 am every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday and return from Haikou at 4:40 pm. The stopover is Fuzhou, capital of East China's Fujian Province.

(Beijing Weekend December 16, 2002)