CHINA Eastern Airlines and its subsidiary Shanghai Airlines will launch direct flights linking Shanghai's Hongqiao International Airport with Hong Kong starting September 10 to facilitate passengers' access to the Yangtze River Delta region.

China Eastern will operate a daily flight departing from Shanghai at 8:30am and Shanghai Air will run a daily flight departing at 3:30pm, which will increase the number of weekly flights between the two cities to more than 200, Shanghai-based China Eastern said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

At present, passengers can take flights to Hong Kong only from Pudong International Airport.

The Chinese mainland's aviation regulator and Hong Kong's transport department last month agreed to add Hongqiao as another destination amid growing trade and cultural interaction between the two cities.

Hongqiao airport is located in the Hongqiao Transport Hub, which links high-speed railways, highways, subways and buses.

The airport is a key gateway to the Yangtze River Delta region, and the new flights will facilitate passengers' transfers at the airport to gain better access to the region.

Meanwhile, China Eastern said in a separate statement that it carried 6.3 million passengers in July, surging 56.07 percent from a year earlier, and 114,130 tons of cargo, rising 54.81 percent on a yearly basis.

Its load factor reached 83.21 percent, the highest so far this year, rising 10.95 percentage points on a yearly basis and 3.09 percentage points from a month earlier, the statement said.