Crew members of the first flight pose for photos in the cabin on Jan 21, 2016. [Photo/chinanews.com]

URUMQI -- The first direct flight linking northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and a southeastern Asian country, has been launched, sources with the Urumqi international airport announced.

The flight is operated by China Southern Airlines between Urumqi and and Bangkok of Thailand, the airport said in a statement.

Flights are arranged on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday each week, with a stopover at Lanzhou, capital of northwest China's Gansu province.

The direct flight shortens the travel time between the two places to around six hours from the previous more than 10 hours when passengers used to transit via Beijing and Shanghai to travel to Bangkok.

In 2015, the Urumqi airport saw the transit of 280,000 passengers, up 35.34 percent year on year.