GUANGZHOU, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- A new direct flight was launched Monday linking the city of Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, with Sihanoukville, a coastal city in Cambodia.

Cambodia's JC International Airlines will operate the route.

Sihanoukville, a major tourist city, is the third Cambodian city with a direct flight to Guangzhou.

The flight is scheduled to depart from Sihanoukville at 10:50 p.m. local time and arrive in Guangzhou at 2:25 a.m. Beijing time on a daily basis. The return flight will take off at 3:25 a.m. Beijing time from Guangzhou and will arrive in Sihanoukville at around 5:10 a.m. local time.

Statistics released by Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport showed that more than 663,000 passengers traveled between Guangzhou and Cambodia in 2017, with an increase of 41.6 percent year on year.