Tibet Airlines' inaugural flight from Jinan, the capital city of eastern China's Shandong Province, lands at the Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport in Finland, April 8, 2019. An Airbus 330 operated by China Tibet Airlines landed at the Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport late on Monday, opening the weekly direct flights between Jinan, Shandong Province of China and Helsinki, capital of Finland. Tibet Airlines has one flight to Finland every week in April and will possibly run two weekly flights in June. (Xinhua/Finavia)

JINAN, April 8 (Xinhua) -- Tibet Airlines on Monday launched its first intercontinental air route linking Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong Province, and Finnish capital Helsinki.

The first flight on the route took off from Jinan Yaoqiang International Airport on Monday afternoon, which also marked the opening of the city's first direct passenger flight to Northern Europe.

Bai Weisan, general manager of Tibet Airlines, said the flight will operate once a week but they look forward to increasing the frequency to twice per week.

The return flight departs from Jinan at 3:30 p.m. every Monday (local time) and returns from Helsinki at 10:30 p.m. on the same day (local time).