BEIJING - China's Hainan Airlines will open a chartered flight service next Wednesday connecting Sanya in southern Hainan Province with Siem Reap, the gateway to Cambodia's Angkor ruins.

Besides the charter flights, Hainan Airlines announced it had started direct flights between Sanya and Cambodian capital Phnom Penh Friday.

Scheduled twice a week, the Phnom Penh flights are made by Boeing 737-800 aircraft, the airline said.

Hainan Airlines is the fourth largest airline in terms of fleet size in China. The airline has been operating for 23 years and has more than 160 aircraft in service.

Trade between China and Cambodia was valued at 4.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, up 18 percent year on year, according to official data.

China is the second largest source of tourists to Cambodia, with 700,000 Chinese tourists visiting in 2015.