A new air route connecting the city of Busan, the Republic of Korea and Haikou, the capital of China's southernmost province of Hainan, will begin running on November 27, Hainan's Meilan International Airport confirmed. 

Operated by Air Busan, the flight will be carried out twice a week. The Busan-Haikou flight is scheduled to depart at 10:35 p.m. local time on Wednesday and 10:00 p.m. local time on Saturday.

It is one of the 24 international air routes newly opened in Hainan this year. 

Hainan, once an isolated and backward island, has stepped up efforts to launch more overseas air routes to reinforce its connection with other parts of the world. 

So far, the province has 98 overseas air routes, according to the provincial transport authority.

Hainan put forward building an air transport network in April. Called the four-hour and eight-hour flight economic circle, the system is expected to enable people to travel between the island and 21 countries and regions in Asia within four hours and between 59 countries and regions spanning across Asia, Australia, Europe and Africa within eight hours. 

From January to October, a total of 17,000 overseas flights took off and landed in Hainan, up 23.3 percent from a year earlier. Passenger numbers also rose by 28.7 percent year on year to 2.1 million during the period, the provincial transport authority said.

(Cover: China's Hainan Airlines at Hainan's Meilan International Airport. /VCG Photo)