Passengers wait in a line to check-in at the Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport. [Photo/Guanhai News]

Flight JD461, carrying 225 passengers, left Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport for Melbourne, Australia at 6:50 pm on Feb 14, marking the official resumption of that route.

Operated by Capital Airlines using a wide-body Airbus A330 jet, it is scheduled for twice a week, with the Airbus leaving Qingdao on Tuesday and Saturday and returning on Wednesday and Sunday. It will be gradually expanded according to passenger demand in the future.

This is currently the only direct route from Shandong province to Melbourne, and can save passengers at least 10 hours compared to alternatives that require connecting flights.

The Qingdao-Melbourne air route resumes on Feb 14. [Photo/Guanhai News]

The resumption of the Qingdao-Melbourne flight has built a convenient air bridge for commercial and cultural exchanges between China and Australia, and also provides more diversified and convenient air routes for tourists from Qingdao and other cities in the Jiaodong Economic Circle to travel abroad, according to local officials.

Since February, Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport has accelerated the resumption of international flights. At present, passenger routes to Singapore and Melbourne have been resumed, and cargo routes to New York have been opened. In the near future, the airport plans to resume passenger flights to Moscow and to add flights to Dubai and Seoul.

A poster for the Qingdao-Melbourne flight [Photo/Guanhai News]