Booming tourism demand has convinced China Airlines to launch a service connecting Hangzhou, capital of eastern China's Zhejiang province, with Singapore, state media said.

Travelers from Hangzhou can now fly to Singapore every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, with the plane winging its way in the opposite direction on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

The first flight left on Friday, the Xinhua news agency said.

Exchanges between Zhejiang and Singapore have been soaring in recent years.

Statistics show that 28,560 tourists went to Singapore from Zhejiang last year, up 40 percent from the previous year, while some 69,850 tourists came to Zhejiang from Singapore, up 85 percent.

The only other international route from Hangzhou is to Seoul.

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