WUHAN - A direct air route linking Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei province, and Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia is expected to open next month, authorities said Saturday.

According to the agreement signed on Saturday by the Tourism Ministry of Malaysia and the tourism bureau of Hubei Province, charter flights will be available between the two cities starting from April 4, with two round trips per week, on Thursday and Sunday.

Operated by the Malaysian airline of AirAsia X, each single flight will take about four and half hours with the aircraft type of Airbus 330, said a statement issued by the bureau.

Currently tourists in Wuhan have to take connection flights via cities of Shenzhen or Hong Kong to visit Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia is one of the most popular tourism destinations for tourists of Hubei. According to the figures of the bureau, the tourist number from Hubei to Malaysia last year surged up 115 percent year on year to 24,400. The province received 77,300 Malaysian tourists last year.

Hubei is abundant in tourism resources. Famous resorts include the gigantic Three Gorges Dam, a renowned Taoist religious site Wudang Mountain, and the Shennongjia Forest District, or the rumored home of a ape-like Bigfoot creature.