Since May 8 2010, there will have a scheduled service between Amsterdam in the Netherlands and Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport in China, launched by KLM Royal Dutch. It will become the first airline to offer a direct service between Hangzhou and Europe.

This new service will be operated three times a week. Flight KL881 will depart on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, and arrive in Hangzhou the following day. The returning flight KL882 will depart from Hangzhou on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, arriving in Amsterdam on the same day. This charter will be operated with a Boeing 777-200ER, which can carry about 318 passengers – 35 in business class and 283 in economy class.

Besides the new destination, Air France and KLM will operate direct flights to five more destinations in mainland China, and to more than 25 other Chinese cities through code-shares with China Southern, China Eastern, and Sichuan Airlines.