LUXEMBOURG -- A plane carrying 146 passengers landed at Luxembourg Airport on Thursday evening, marking the opening of the first direct air route for passengers between China and Luxembourg.

The passengers, mainly Chinese travelers, received at the exit a warm welcome from Alexander Flassak, chief executive officer of Luxembourg Airport, and the Chinese Ambassador to Luxembourg Hua Ning.

"We are proud and happy to have this passenger flight directly connecting to China. We have worked for it for several years," Flassak said.

Noting the already existing cargo flights between the two countries as "a strong link to China," he said the Luxembourg side is looking forward to more direct passenger flights from and to China in the future.

A passenger, who only gave her surname as Zhang, shared with Xinhua her happiness when disembarking the plane that took off from the city of Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province.

"We've been waiting for this for a long time, and now we can finally fly directly from Zhengzhou to Luxembourg without a layover! We are particularly happy," she said.

In the initial phase, the air route will operate one round-trip flight per week. Outbound flights will depart from Zhengzhou at 2:50 pm (0650 GMT) on Thursdays, arriving in Luxembourg at 7 pm (1600 GMT) on the same day. Return flights will depart from Luxembourg at 3 pm (1400 GMT) on Fridays, reaching Zhengzhou at 8:10 am (0010 GMT) on Saturdays.

In comparison to the previous indirect flights, the new air route saves passengers several hours in travel time.