URUMQI, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- China Southern Airlines, one of the country's largest carriers, announced Tuesday that it would launch a new service from northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to Turkmenistan's capital, Ashkhabad, from Dec. 18.

The new route means that Urumchi will have flights to the capitals of all five Central Asian countries. The other four flights are to Almaty, Bishkek, Dushanbe and Tashkent, said an official with China Southern.

The flight of more than 2,700 km will take about three hours.

The official said the new route was "a significant step for China Southern to expand its international flights." The route would "play an important role for air network development in Central Asia and Europe", the official added.