China Southern Airlines, the nation's biggest carrier by fleet
size, will launch semiweekly flights from northwestern Chinese city
Urumqi to Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, on Dec. 18.
The new flights will be operated by China Southern's Xinjiang
subsidiary, with a Boeing 737 aircraft departing Urumqi on Tuesdays
and Saturdays and returning on Wednesdays and Sundays.
The move will complete the subsidiary's coverage of the five
central Asian nations, which also include Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, China Southern said.
Xinjiang subsidiary currently operates flights to 16
international cities, making Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uygur
Autonomous Region, a gateway hub for northwest China.
Ren Jidong, general manager of the subsidiary, said that his
company hoped to explore the central Asian markets in collaboration
with carriers in central and western Asia.
(Xinhua News Agency December 17, 2007)
