CHONGQING, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Hainan Airlines on Wednesday opened a direct flight between southwest China's Chongqing Municipality and Paris.

The outbound flight leaves Chongqing at 1:30 a.m. Beijing time and arrives in Paris at 6:20 a.m. local time every Wednesday and Saturday. The return flight departs Paris at 1 p.m. and arrives in Chongqing at 6:30 a.m.

The flight duration is between 10 hours and 30 minutes and 12 hours.

The new route is the first direct flight linking the two cities. So far, Chongqing has opened 80 international air routes.

Last week, two routes linking Chongqing with Boston and Seattle, with a connection in Shanghai were opened.

Paris has been one of the top destinations in Europe for Chinese tourists. Last year, Chinese tourists made a total of 1.1 million visits to Paris.