China Southern Airlines flight CZ6041 took off from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport at 8:37 a.m. Beijing time on June 1, planned via Urumqi to Frankfurt, Germany, marking the official launch of the Guangzhou-Urumqi-Frankfurt international route.
As northwest China’s first direct intercontinental passenger route to Germany, the new route links the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt, and Europe’s heartland, building an efficient air connectivity corridor between Asia and Europe. Its opening marks a breakthrough in Xinjiang’s westward aviation opening-up network.
Operated by Boeing 787-9 wide-body aircraft, the route runs regularly every Monday and Friday with nearly 600 seats each way, flight numbers CZ6041/CZ6042. It changes the previous pattern of routing Xinjiang-Europe travel through eastern hubs like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The Urumqi-Frankfurt leg takes about 8 hours one way with no detours; together with saved transfer and waiting time, passengers can save more than 10 hours on round trips between China and Europe.
