BEIJING - Air China, the country's flag carrier airline, officially resumed its Beijing-Madrid-Sao Paulo passenger air route on Sunday after a hiatus of over four years.

A Boeing 787-9 aircraft, carrying more than 263 passengers, took off from Beijing Capital International Airport at around 3 pm (Beijing Time) on Sunday, marking Air China's return to the South American market.

Covering an extensive distance of nearly 17,584 km each way, the flights will require over 25 hours to reach Brazil, making this route one of the world's longest one-stop flights.

According to Air China, flights are scheduled to depart at 3 pm every Thursday and Sunday from Beijing, with a stopover in Madrid in Spain, before arriving at Sao Paulo in Brazil at 5:05 am local time. The return flight departs from Sao Paulo at 9:15 am and arrives in Beijing at 7:30 pm.

Zhou Yeting, who works with Air China, said that the resumption of the flight will promote economic, cultural and personnel exchanges between China and Brazil.

"We will further increase the flight frequencies according to market conditions. In the future, Air China will also actively promote cooperation with local Brazilian airlines, accelerate the restoration of network connectivity, continuously optimize services, enhance passenger travel experiences, and meet diverse travel needs," Zhou said.