THE landing of the UK's first direct flight from China into a non-London airport took place when a China Southern A330-200 touched down at Birmingham after a five thousand mile, 10 hour flight from Beijing.

The occasion also marked the first use of the airport's recently extended runway as the plane was welcomed by Lord Popat of Harrow, Government aviation spokesperson in the House of Lords, alongside dignitaries from the city.

Operated by one of China's leading tour companies, Caissa Travel Management Co Ltd, the jet arrived into Birmingham Airport fully laden with 248 tourists venturing into the UK on organised package tours. The charter flights are the first in the UK to operate from China and the sell-out tours show the enormous demand for more flights between the two countries.

"This is a historic day for Birmingham, and indeed the Midlands region. Never before has a commercial airliner touched down on a runway outside of the Capital from China and we are enormously proud to be the first to make this happen," said Paul Kehoe, the Airport's chief executive. "We have invested more than £200m in recent years to create an airport that can accommodate more traffic, particularly to and from long-haul markets, and today we saw the first use of our runway extension for what it was intended, to provide direct global connectivity from the Midlands."

The new flights are a result of three years’ collaborative working with Birmingham City Council, Marketing Birmingham, VisitBritain and the Government. The partnership forms part of the wider VisitBritain ‘GREAT China Welcome’ campaign, which was announced during the Prime Minister’s visit to China in November 2013 and aims to make the UK the most welcoming destination in Europe for Chinese visitors.