Air China will newly launch Beijing-Munich and Beijing-Dubai air routes respectively on August 11 and September 21, a source with Air China has announced.

Beijing-Munich flight CA961 will be operated three times per week on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, with Boeing 767-300 aircraft. The flight will depart Beijing at 1 p.m. and arrive in Munich at 5:40 p.m. local time. It will depart at 7 p.m. local time from Munich and arrive at Beijing at 10:40 a.m. on the next day.

As the third biggest city in Germany, Munich is located near to south and east Europe. When Frankfurt airport is nearly saturated, Munich airport has gradually become an important gateway to Europe. Some 30,000 Chinese people visit Munich every year. The Sino-German route is the one that Air China inputs the largest capacities among other European countries. Now Beijing to Frankfurt is already in operation, said Li Jiaxiang, president of Air China.

Beijing-Dubai airline will have three flights weekly on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. This route will use Boeing 767-200 and flight number will be CA941, which depart Beijing at 5:30 p.m. and arrive in Dubai at 10:00 p.m. local time. It will depart Dubai at 11:20 p.m. and arrive in Beijing at 10:50 a.m. on the next day.

United Arab Emirates is the trading center of Middle East, which makes Dubai the gateway to Middle East and also the most important hub in the area. There are 65,000 Chinese people doing business in Dubai.

(Xinhua News Agency July 8, 2004)