An air route linking Wuhan and San Francisco in the US opened on Friday as a part of the Central China city's efforts to become the fourth-biggest air transport hub after Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

"The launch of the route will attract more passengers to take flights from Wuhan," said Zhu Xueqing, deputy head of Hubei Airports Group Company.

The route brings the total number of Wuhan's international air routes up to 22. The city will also launch other international flights, including those to Sydney, Dubai, Bangkok and Seoul in 2013, Zhu added.

Analysts said more international routes from the capital city of Hubei province will add to its economic influence. The city has been widely known as a "path to nine provinces" for more than two centuries.

"If you look at the data on passenger flow in the first quarter of 2013, you will see that Wuhan is playing a more significant role in the country's air traffic system," said Yang Fan, a Shanghai-based air traffic sector analyst.

In the first quarter of 2013, Wuhan's Tianhe Airport saw a 102 percent year-on-year increase in passenger flow, to 192,000 passenger trips.

The Wuhan-Shanghai-San Francisco flights will be available three times a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, according to the agreement signed on March 12 between Wuhan and the carrier, China Eastern Airlines Corp Ltd.

Airbus A33E aircraft, which have a capacity of 230 passengers, will be used on the service, which will take around 16 hours, including a two-hour stopover in Shanghai.

The outbound flight is scheduled to take off from Wuhan Tianhe at 9:30 am, with a stopover at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, arriving in San Francisco at 9:30 am.

The return flight will depart San Francisco at 12:00 pm, arriving in Wuhan at 8:00 pm the next day, according to China Eastern.

"The route will significantly cut costs and time flying from Wuhan to San Francisco, which will benefit frequent passengers like me," said Ye Luxiang, a Wuhan-based machine dealer who flies at least once every month between the two cities.

In 2006, the Civil Aviation Administration of China drafted policies to support the development of Wuhan as an aviation hub, and the city has become a pilot in the country's effort to reform its air transport sector since then.

An expansion program at Tianhe Airport will start in June this year.

By 2020, the annual passenger flows at the airport will be 35 million passenger trips with cargo flow of 440,000 metric tons, triple the current capacity, according to Hubei Airports.

Wang Wen in Beijing and Li Bo in Wuhan contributed to this story

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(China Daily 04/26/2013 page14)