Northwest China's ancient city of Xi'an on Thursday opened its first direct flight to Milan, Italy to enhance personnel and economic exchanges between the two cities.
The new route offers round-trip flights on every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. The outbound flight departs at 14:40 Beijing time and is expected to arrive at Malpensa Airport in Milan at 19:30 local time. The return flight departs at 21:30 local time and arrives at Xi 'an Xianyang International Airport at 14:00 Beijing time.
The flight is operated by the Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft, which is known for its spacious cabin, comfortable seats and excellent fuel efficiency. Meanwhile, passengers can connect to Wi-Fi network during the flight.
"The flight is able to connect to the Internet after taking off and stay connected throughout the flight. During the 11 hours on board, whether for work, entertainment, or sharing moments with family, it is very convenient, providing passengers with a highly comfortable travel experience," said Ren Xiang, senior deputy manager of the Market Development Division 2 of Sales and Marketing Department of China Eastern Airlines Northwest Branch.
China Eastern Airlines has launched 83 routes from Xi'an Xianyang International Airport, including 12 international and 71 domestic destinations. The total number of flights has surpassed the 2019 level by 3.5 percent.
With the new route opened, China Eastern Airlines has established four routes between China and Italy, including Shanghai to Venice, Shanghai to Rome, and Wenzhou to Rome. The opening of the Xi'an-Milan route marks the second long-haul intercontinental direct route from Xi'an Xianyang International Airport this year, following the launch of the Xi'an-Budapest route.
"In the early stage, we fully laid out the route from Xi'an to Budapest in Eastern Europe, and now we have opened the route from Xi'an to Milan in Western Europe, which will fully enrich our route network in Europe. The airport in Xi'an will continue to spread from Xi 'an to the west, to Central and Western Asia, Central and Eastern Europe and Western Europe in the future, to enrich the travel of local people and serve the local economic development, and make more contributions," said Zhang Xuan, vice general manager of the marketing department of Xi'an Xianyang International Airport.
China's Xi'an opens first direct flight to Milan
The disciplinary body of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has called for reinforced anti-corruption efforts during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).
The call was made in a communique adopted at the fifth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), held from Monday to Wednesday in Beijing.
Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, attended the session and delivered an important speech.
The plenary session reviewed the discipline inspection and supervision work during 2025 and assigned tasks for 2026. It adopted a work report delivered by Li Xi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the CCDI, on behalf of the Standing Committee of the CCDI.
The session unanimously agreed to take guidance from Xi's important speech, persistently strengthen political oversight, and remain steadfast in improving conduct, enforcing discipline, and combating corruption.
It was noted at the session that in 2025, the top disciplinary body investigated, punished, and publicly exposed typical cases of discipline violations, to further promote improved work conduct and foster new practices across the Party.
Efforts were intensified to address corruption in key sectors such as finance, state-owned enterprises, energy, firefighting, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, higher education, and sports.
Campaigns were deepened to tackle misconduct and corruption that occurred at people's doorsteps. Reform of the discipline inspection and supervision system was also advanced in greater depth.
The session stressed that as China advances into the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the CPC faces fresh imperatives in advancing full and rigorous Party self-governance and must take more forceful and effective measures to eradicate the breeding ground and conditions for corruption.
The session emphasized the necessity of strengthening political oversight to support the achievement of the period's objectives and tasks. It called for taking strict actions against behavior in disregard of the rules, opportunism, sectarianism, a silo mentality, and unprincipled nice-guyism.
The session also urged improving long-term mechanisms to refine codes of conduct, while ramping up efforts to combat corruption in high-priority sectors. It further mandated tough scrutiny and punishment for collusion between officials and businessmen.
In addition, the session demanded more standardized and law-based discipline inspection and supervision work.
Party and state leaders including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi attended the session.
CPC calls for reinforced anti-corruption efforts during 15th Five-Year Plan period
