The twice weekly departures will offer passengers the chance to visit China’s capital and the country’s largest city from Birmingham Airport. This scheduled service follows on from the success of direct charter flights, the first outside of London, which saw over 7000 Chinese visitors travel through Birmingham Airport during 2014 and 2015.

These flights will be on sale to UK residents and will also be sold inbound through the Chinese tour operator Caissa Touristic, one of China’s most important travel companies.

Paul Kehoe, Chief Executive of Birmingham Airport, said, “Today we have reached one of our goals – to offer direct scheduled services to China. We have made the investment, developed the market and today is testament that our region has enormous demand for direct flights to China.

“Last year around 150,000 people flew between our region and China, with passengers preferring to travel from their local airport. Beijing Capital Airlines and Caissa have recognised this demand, paving the way for a scheduled service to both Beijing and Shanghai. These flights will give our region direct access to China and will also offer Chinese tourists an alternative gateway to the UK, which has previously proved so popular.”