Flights are expected to be available every half an hour for trips between Shanghai and Beijing as an air express service project begins trial operation on Monday.

The project, launched by the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China, will allow travelers to change tickets for other flights among the five major domestic airlines as long as they have not gone through the boarding procedure.

The five airlines taking part, namely China Eastern Airlines, Air China, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Shanghai Airlines, will each provide travelers with quicker check-ins, security checks, boarding and luggage collection through designated passages.

In addition, the air express service also ensures the time it takes to travel from downtown area of Shanghai to that of Beijing will be less than three hours.

Travelers can take the flight from 7: 30 AM to around 10: 00 PM, Shanghai Morning Post reports. After coordination and planning, the five airlines are expected to launch flights every half an hour around October this year.

The Beijing Capital International Airport and Shanghai Hongqiao Airport have set aside exclusive counters for the service.

Meanwhile, as the Shanghai Morning Post learns from a ticket agency, the price of air tickets from Beijing to Shanghai has increased by one to three percent, while no discounts are on offer from Shanghai to Beijing.

Also, the express service is expected to be expanded to cover other major cities, such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

(CRI August 6, 2007)