A direct air route was launched between Wenzhou, a city in east China's Zhejiang Province, and Taipei, Taiwan, on Sunday, sources with the Wenzhou airport said.

An E90 aircraft carrying 97 passengers took off from Wenzhou Yongqiang Airport at 1:22 p.m., marking the inauguration of the route, said a statement issued by the airport.

The route will be operated twice each week by Taiwan's Mandarin Airlines.

The direct route takes 80 minutes, making it the shortest route between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan. Previous routes, via cities such as Shanghai and Hangzhou, took six hours, according to the statement.

Official data showed that 20,000 people from Taiwan travelled to Wenzhou for tourism, visiting relatives and business last year, and the number of people traveling from Wenzhou to Taiwan reached 30,000 last year.

The new route will help promote economic, cultural and life exchanges between the mainland and Taiwan, said the statement.

(Xinhua News Agency March 25, 2012)