CHONGQING, June 20 -- Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality announced on Tuesday that it will begin non-stop flights to New York City on Oct 20.

According to the municipal transportation commission, the route is the first direct connection between China's central west region to New York.

A Hainan Airlines flight will depart Chongqing every Wednesday and Friday and return from New York every Thursday and Saturday.

Chongqing is the fifth city on the Chinese mainland to have direct flights to New York, said Wang Qinlin, deputy director of transportation commission.

Chongqing now has ten direct intercontinental flights to the cities of Auckland, Doha, Dubai, Helsinki, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Rome, San Francisco and Sydney. There are plans to expand international routes to 100, with an international passenger throughput exceeding 5 million, by 2020.