(Yicai) Jan. 14 -- Serbian national carrier Air Serbia has recently added a third direct air route to China, as the economic and trade relationship between the country continues to deepen.

In addition to direct flights from Belgrade to Guangzhou and Tianjin, Air Serbia has also added one to Shanghai, which will run two round-trip weekly flights.

The maiden flight landed at Shanghai Pudong International Airport on Jan. 11, carrying passengers including Air Serbia’s Chief Executive Officer Jiri Marek.

During his visit to Shanghai, Marek visited the headquarters of Chinese online travel agency Trip.Com Group yesterday to join hands on route operations, tourism marketing, and customer service to expand tourism between the two countries, which have a mutual visa exemption agreement for tourists since 2016.

China and Serbia have been deepening their economic and trade cooperation in recent years. Last July, the China-Serbia Free Trade Agreement came into effect, with each country eliminating tariffs on 90 percent of the goods imported from the other.

Last year, bilateral trade between China and Serbia neared EUR7 billion (USD7.2 billion), Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said during Air Serbia’s Belgrade-Shanghai inaugural flight ceremony on Jan. 10. Around 147,000 Chinese tourists visited Serbia in the period.

Chinese airlines also have several direct flights to Serbia. For example, Hainan Airlines has operated flights on the Beijing-Belgrade route since July 2022, and China Southern Airlines launched direct flights between Guangzhou and Belgrade last September.

After the Covid-19 pandemic, China’s international flight network layout has leaned towards countries along the Belt and Road Initiative. During this winter-spring season, the Civil Aviation Administration of China has approved 178 airlines to fly between China and 79 countries. Among them, 57 were BRI countries, accounting for 10,326 weekly flights or 53 percent of the total.

Editor: Futura Costaglione