WUHAN, July 27 -- A direct air route between Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, and Moscow, capital of Russia, is expected to be launched next Wednesday, according to the Hubei Airports Group Company.

There will be flights on every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, using Airbus A330-200. The trip takes about 9 hours, saving at least 11 hours for local residents who had to travel via other cities to reach Moscow.

Thanks to the new route, an eight-day travel fare for group tourists to Russia are expected to be cut down from 15,000 yuan each to less than 10,000 yuan each.