China Eastern Airlines launched direct flight connecting Shanghai and Kazan in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan on Saturday, marking the first direct route linking the two cities.

The inaugural flight took off from the Shanghai Pudong International Airport at noon on Saturday, with the plane expected to arrive at Kazan International Airport at 5:00 pm local time after a nine-hour flight. A total of 240 passengers are onboard, becoming the first batch of travelers of the debut flight and making the load factor surpass 90 percent, according to the Shanghai-based carrier.

The flight, which will operate every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, will shorten the travel time between the two cities to about 9.5 hours from previous more than 15 hours.

Along with the Shanghai-Kazan route, China Eastern has recently launched three new international direct flights ahead of the National Day holiday, providing more options for international travel during the week-long holiday.

Kazan, the capital city of Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, is one of the three Russian historical and cultural cities along with Moscow and St. Petersburg, and it is also an economic and cultural transportation center and an important tourism city in the middle reaches of the Volga River.