The air route linking Tianjin Municipality in north China and Japan's Sapporo will resume from Dec. 20, local sources said on Monday.

The route will be operated by Tianjin Airlines, using an airbus A320 aircraft, with one round-trip flight scheduled every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

The outbound flight departs at 8 a.m. local time, arriving at Sapporo at 12:30 p.m. The return flight leaves the Japanese city at 1:45 p.m. before landing in Tianjin at 5:20 p.m.

Tianjin Airlines runs four other routes to Japan, linking Tianjin with Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya, and connecting Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province, with Osaka.

Tianjin Airlines has provided diversified and convenient transportation services for passengers traveling for business, tourism and exchanges since April 2023, when flights to and from Japan resumed. Authorities said the route between Tianjin and Sapporo not only offers passengers more options but also improves the flight network between Japan and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in north China.

China will grant visa-free entry to citizens of Japan as part of its ongoing efforts to boost international tourism and business travel. From Nov. 30, 2024 to Dec. 31, 2025, trial visa exemption will be applied to ordinary passport holders from the country. After this announcement on Friday, interest in direct flights from various cities in Japan to China saw a notable spike.

Editor: Zheng Bai