Hainan Airlines, the fourth - largest carrier in China, launched a new route connecting two cities along the "One Belt, One Road" on Monday, with direct flights from Chongqing to Rome.

The carrier plans to operate bi-weekly flights between the two cities using an Airbus A330 aircraft with 260 seats, said company officials. It is the second route from Chongqing to Europe and first route to Western Europe from Southwest China.

The first flight to Rome, which took off on Monday, has already received good response with all seats on the flight fully booked, they said. Chongqing is the only municipality directly under the central government along the Belt and Road routes and Rome in Italy is the final destination of the ancient Silk Road.