China’s Hainan Airline will be offering direct flights from Chongqing southwest China to Rome starting April 27, the Italy’s Consulate General in Chongqing announced on Sunday.
Expected to cut travel time between the two cities to around 13 hours, the route runs every Monday and Friday from Chongqing at 1:30 a.m. to Rome at 7:50 a.m. The returning flight will depart from the Italian capital at 12:50 p.m. and lands in Chongqing at 5:45 the next morning, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday.
The consulate also announced that their new visa center will begin accepting applications for Italian visas starting Feb. 16 from Chongqing as well as in the neighboring provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Gansu, Shaanxi, Hubei, Qinghai and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
Applicants will no longer be required to go to Beijing to apply, while applications will be processed within two days of submission with a fee of 60 euros.
The announcement comes after the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) came to an agreement on traffic rights with the Italian civil aviation authorities in January this year. Under the new agreement, more Chinese airliners will now be able to gain traffic rights to operate flights between China and Italy, according to Xinhua.
Both countries also agreed on more efficient visa procedures after Premier Li Keqiang met with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Rome in Oct. 2014.
"I expect to exchange in-depth views with Italian leaders on bilateral relations and topics of common interest, so as to inject new vigor into bilateral practical cooperation in all fields and together blueprint the bright future for China-Italy relations," Li said in an official press release.