A China Southern Airlines passenger flight departed Monday from Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport in south China's Guangdong Province, heading for Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

It marked the opening of the first direct passenger route linking China's southern metropolis of Shenzhen with the Netherlands, which is also the first new international passenger route opened by the airport in the past three years, signalling a recovery in the international passenger transport business once dented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the airport authority, an Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft is scheduled to run round trips twice a week on the Shenzhen-Amsterdam route. Amsterdam, as a large international aviation hub in Europe, is an important gateway for passengers to transit to other European countries and to countries in South America and North Africa.

By the end of 2022, the airport in Shenzhen had resumed international passenger routes to 16 cities -- including Los Angeles, Vancouver, Johannesburg and Moscow.