Beijing Capital Airlines of China has started an air service from Beijing to Lisbon via the central Chinese city of Xi’an, Xinhua reports.
The Chinese state-run news agency says a Beijing Capital Airlines plane carrying more than 170 passengers took off from Beijing on Friday on the outward leg of the new return service.
The report quotes a counsellor at the Chinese Embassy in Portugal , Xu Zhida, as saying the service will increase the part Portugal plays in the Chinese-led Belt and Road initiative.
The service will bring more Chinese tourists to Portugal, Xinhua quotes a Portuguese tourism official, Filipe Silva, as saying.
In a separate report, the Portuguese news agency, Lusa, quotes Mr Silva as saying 200,000 Chinese spent the night in Portuguese hotels in the first half of this year, 18.4 percent more than a year earlier.
