CHENGDU, July 8 -- Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, opened a direct air route to Mauritius on Tuesday.

It is also the first direct air route between western China and Africa.

The flight, run by an A340-300 aircraft and operated by Air Mauritius, has 298 seats.

The outbound flight will depart from Chengdu at 11:30 p.m. every Tuesday and arrive in Mauritius at 5:35 a.m. local time the following day, according to the Sichuan air travel group.

The return flight will depart from Mauritius at 4 p.m. local time and land in Chengdu at 6:15 a.m. the next day.

The new route cut the travel time to about 9.5 hours. Passengers traveling to Mauritius from western China previously had to transfer in Hong Kong or the Middle East.

The new air route will help boost tourism and business between the two regions, the group said.

Deputy Prime Minister of Mauritius Xavier-Luc Duval took the first flight to Chengdu on Tuesday.

After disembarking from the plane, the deputy prime minister said Mauritius welcomes more Chinese tourists and hopes to better economic, trade and cultural exchanges with Chinese cities.

According to figures from the Mauritius tourist department, among Mauritius' 1 million foreign tourists last year, only 60,000 were from China. However, the number represented a 50-percent jump year-on-year, boosted by the visa-free policy.

Xavier-Luc Duval said China's outbound tourism has a great potential. He vowed to add flights on the route, if the demand for Chinese travel to Mauritius soars.

Mauritius, an island nation, is a popular honeymoon destination.