China Southern Airlines opens a new direct flight between Guangzhou, Guangdong province, and Budapest, Hungary, on Thursday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Return flights will depart from Budapest at 1 pm local time and fly about 10 hours and 55 minutes to arrive in Guangzhou at 5:55 am the next day.

Ji Ye, the flight captain, said he was proud to pilot the inaugural flight to Budapest and to witness a historic moment in the history of China-Hungary relations.

Han, the airline president, said the flight's arrival times at Budapest and Guangzhou will meet the needs of passengers for transit via Budapest to other cities in Europe and via Guangzhou to other Chinese cities and destinations in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand.