Northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Friday started to operate eight more international air routes to eight cities in Europe, America and Asia.

The air routes link the ancient Chinese capital with Paris, London, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and New Delhi and will be operated by the East China Airline, based in Shanghai.

According to the aviation firm, all of the new air routes need to fly from Xi'an to Shanghai for a brief stop before heading for their destination cities.

So far, Xi'an has opened a total of 25 international air routes, ranking as the country's fourth after Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. It is also the largest air traffic base in western China.

(Xinhua News Agency January 7, 2006)