Two Nansha islands greet their first civil flights

New runways cut travel time for 1, 000-plus km trip to southernmost China from 30 to 2 hours

Two civil airliners touched down for the first time on runways on Meiji Reef and Zhubi Reef in the South China Sea on Wednesday, showing the feasibility of the two new Nansha Islands as flight destinations in China's southernmost territories.

The Nansha Islands now have three airports accessible to commercial airliners - in January, an airliner landed at Yongshu Reef - opening the possibility of travelers covering the 1,000-plus kilometers to the islands in two hours.