A source with the company, formerly China Northern Airlines, announced Friday that it will offer flights from Shenyang to Fukuoka, Dalian to Fukuoka, Dalian to Osaka, Harbin to Dalian to Hiroshima, and Changchun to Sendai.

All flights depart from China's northeast. Shenyang is the capital city of Liaoning Province while Dalian is a port city in the same province. Harbin is the capital of Heilongjiang Province and Changchun is the capital of Jilin Province.

With the five new additions, the company will have 12 flights to nine Japanese cities.

The original seven flights to Japan earned the company 410 million yuan last year with a total 190,000 passengers.

Passengers between Japan and the three northeast Chinese provinces have increased in recent years with the growth of trade and exchanges between the two countries.

The company will reopen its flight between Beijing and Pyongyang, capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), in the near future, the source added.

(Xinhua News Agency February 22, 2003)