The flight route from Urumqi to Lhasa via Xi'an opened to air traffic on Sept.13, ending the history of no direct flight between the two cities and strengthening the exchange between northwest China's Xinjiang and southwest China's Tibet.
 
The flight MU1500 took off at 07:30 from Urumqi at 07:30 and arrived in Xi'an at 10:35, then took off from Xi'an at 11:35 arriving at Lhasa at 14:55, while flight MU1501 took off from Lhasa at 12:15 and arrived in Xi'an at 15:15, then took off from Xi'an at 16:45 arriving in Urumqi at 20:25.