China Eastern Airlines, the third largest Chinese airline, has inaugurated a new flight for China providing a direct connection between Rome and Wenzhou, operating twice weekly on Wednesday and Saturday departing at 1pm.

The new China Eastern Airlines flight to Wenzhou, an important coastal town which overlooks the East China Sea, will expand to 32 flights weekly to 9 destinations accessible from Leonardo da Vinci airport to Greater China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan), which is a European record.

The new connection on the Airbus A330 means passengers, who were previously forced to stop at Shanghai or Pechino, can now travel directly from Rome to the city of Wenzhou, which is the primary area of origin of the majority of the Chinese population (approximately 90%) residing in Europe and Africa. Consequently, the flight time has been reduced to 12 hours.

The traditional ribbon-cutting celebration was attended by Adr’s Asian region manager, Raffaele Pasquini, and China Eastern Airlines’ Country manager, Chen Xiao.

Pasquini stated “We are pleased to inaugurate a new flight to China. We are also confident that the number of passengers served by our airport to reach the major cities in Greater China, will continue to grow in number”.

For his part, Chen Xiao, who at the start of his speech expressed his best wishes for the Chinese New Year, which falls to the year of the Monkey, stressed the importance of the new flight and the strategic role that Fiumicino Airport, primary hub in Southern Europe, will play.

Speaking directly to his countrymen, China Eastern Airlines Country manager then stated, amusingly “so now we can take you directly home”.