ZHENGZHOU, April 18 (Xinhua) -- A direct air route was launched Thursday between Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province and Osaka, Japan's second-largest city.

The route, operated by Spring Airlines, uses an Airbus A320 aircraft and has three flights per week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

The flight departs from Zhengzhou at 2:55 p.m. Beijing time and arrives at Osaka at 6:55 p.m. local time. The return flight departs Osaka at 10:20 a.m. local time and reaches Zhengzhou at 1:55 p.m. Beijing time.

The maiden flight, welcomed by passengers, was 97 percent full, as spring often sees a large number of Chinese visiting Japan, according to Henan Province Airport Group.

Over 8 million Chinese tourists visited Japan in 2018, up 13.9 percent year on year.