Air Berlin announced that they plan to open non-stop flights from Dusseldorf to Beijing and Shanghai in May 2008.

There will be five non-stop flights per week from Dusseldorf to Beijing and to Shanghai, respectively.

Xu Shengli, from German National Tourist Office Beijing, said customers can book Air Berlin's flights for next May on the Internet now and he says this is only a start for routes' expansion between China and Germany.

The German National Tourist Board said the German Embassy and consulates have already made efforts in issuing visas to Chinese and the airlines of the two countries continually expand routes to enlarge aviation capacity, which will increase Germany's competitive advantage among European destination markets.