Air China, the nation's largest carrier, will launch direct flight linking the southwestern city of Chengdu and Bangalore, the "Silicon Valley in India" to promote mutual exchanges in the software industry.

Air service between the two cities is scheduled to start in late February next year.

Airbus A319 or Boeing 757 of Air China southwestern branch will depart from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 8:30 PM (Beijing time), and will arrive in Bangalore on the same day at 11:10 PM (local time), company sources said.

Return flights will be on Thursdays and Sundays, leaving Bangalore at 0:20 AM and arriving in Chengdu at 7:20 AM. One way flight lasts about five hours.

Located in south India, Bangalore produces a third of India's IT industry value, or US$62 billion expected for 2009. Software behemoth such as Microsoft and HP had set up subsidiaries there.

Chengdu is striving to make itself a regional base of software industry with its fast development in software outsourcing and hardware production. World heavyweights like Intel and Foxconn had opened factories in the city.

(Xinhua News Agency December 6, 2009)