A China Southern Airlines B787 took off from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport on June 18, and arrived later at Vienna, Austria after a short stopover at Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

It was the company's first Guangzhou-Urumqi-Vienna flight from Guangdong and Xinjiang to Austria and also China's first regular passenger flight resulting from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

In addition, the flight will be the fastest way to travel between Xinjiang and Austria.

The Guangzhou-Urumqi-Vienna flight departs from Guangzhou, the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road, calls at Urumqi, the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt and terminates at Vienna, the cultural core of Europe.

It not only connects the three aviation hubs, but also creates an air link between the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the Silk Road Economic Belt and the central regions of Europe.

To date, China Southern Airlines has opened 172 air routes to 68 cities in 38 countries and regions involved in the BRI and has carried more than 15 million passengers.

The company airline now flies to the nine European cities of Rome, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Istanbul and Vienna.

In addition, a total of 72 return flights take off every week, carrying passengers to 170 other European cities through 18 air routes. The flights reach nearly all developed areas and hot tourism destinations in Europe.

A China Southern Airlines B787, on the first Guangzhou-Urumqi-Vienna flight in China, readies for takeoff from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport on June 18. [Photo/China Southern Airlines]