Saudi Arabian Airlines, the kingdom's national carrier, has commenced its first flight to the Chinese city of Guangzhou.

 

The carrier says on its website that it plans to operate three flights weekly using a Boeing B-777 aircraft, with 24 seats in first class, 38 seats in business class, and 170 seats in economy class.

 

The flights to Guangzhou will be available on the Jeddah-Riyadh-Guangzhou route on Saturdays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays while the return flights on Guangzhou-Riyadh-Jeddah route will be on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

 

The carrier states Guangzhou is Saudi Arabian Airlines' first station in China for passenger flights. However, it has been operating cargo flights to the China with four flights to Shanghai every week. There are also plans to increase the number of cargo flights as a result the increasing goods traffic between the two economic countries.

 

Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport is the second busiest airport in China in terms of passenger handling and it served to 37.05 million passengers in 2009.