A low-altitude air route connecting Guangzhou, capital city of south China's Guangdong Province, to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), was launched on Thursday.
On Thursday morning, a helicopter departed from the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and arrived at the Hong Kong International Airport in just 40 minutes, marking a significant advance in the low-altitude economy of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).
Operated by China Southern Airlines General Aviation Co., Ltd., the route's inaugural flight utilized a Sikorsky S-92 helicopter, which can accommodate 19 passengers and two crew members.
Li Erbao, chairman of China Southern Airlines General Aviation, said the route will offer charter flights during its trial phase, allowing customers to book custom travel.
Li added that the company plans to introduce regular short-haul flights with two departure and arrival points in Hong Kong, enhancing travel options further for passengers.
"We will gradually open other cross-border, inter-island or inter-city low-altitude passenger and cargo flight routes in the Greater Bay Area, connecting cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai in Guangdong to Macao and Hong Kong, " said Li.
China opens helicopter route linking Guangzhou, Hong Kong
As the diplomatic engagement between the United States and Iran continues despite a faltering ceasefire, a former commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said that Iran is prepared to use military power to break the U.S. maritime blockade should the negotiations collapse or run on too long.
Mohsen Rezaee, who also currently serves as a member of the Iranian Expediency Discernment Council, struck a confident tone about Iran's current trajectory in an exclusive interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) in Tehran on Wednesday.
He said the country has withstood over two decades of crippling sanctions and continued to move forward.
"We have been under sanctions for more than 20 years. The number of sanctions likely exceeds 2,000, targeting individuals, enterprises, corporations, ships, insurance companies, and even foreign countries that interacted with us. However, we have managed to find solutions to neutralize these sanctions, and we will continue to do so moving forward," he said.
He said Iran aims to ease the sanctions burden through talks with the U.S., although at the same time, he said, Iran is ready to shift to a military response if the path to a peaceful resolution closes.
"Furthermore, we will compel the U.S. to lift these sanctions. We will force the U.S. to end the maritime blockade -- either through negotiations or, should they resist, through direct action and we will attack U.S. warships. Therefore, despite all the pressures, the future of our economy is bright and promising, while the future of the US economy is bleak," he said.
While any new war against Iran would be a dead end, the best way out for the U.S. is to continue talks, according to the senior official.
"We have prepared ourselves so that if the maritime blockade continues beyond a certain timeframe, we will launch an attack and break the blockade. The Americans have no choice but to negotiate. Continuing this war is a journey into a very dark tunnel for the United States. The more America chooses to fight, the deeper it enters a tunnel with no end. Yet for us, the path is perfectly clear. America is moving toward us in the dark, while we are monitoring their every move," he said.
Former IRGC chief says Iran ready to break U.S. naval blockade by force if talks fail
