Air China officially launched a nonstop service between Shanghai and San Jose, U.S. on September 1, three months later than planned.

The inaugural flight CA829 took off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport at 2:24 p.m. after a grand ceremony at Terminal 2.

Starting September 1, the flag carrier operates the Shanghai-San Jose service thrice weekly, using Airbus A330-200s, Air China said at the inaugural ceremony.

Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, flight CA829 is scheduled to take off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport at 1:30 p.m. and arrive in San Jose at 10:40 a.m., with the return flight CA830 departing San Jose at 12:30 p.m. and reaching Shanghai at 4:30 p.m. the next day (all local time).

San Jose will be Air China's tenth gateway in North America and its first destination with direct connections between Shanghai and the Silicon Valley.

Air China's launch of the Shanghai-San Jose service expanded its airline network in America, grew its global airline network with Shanghai as an international port, and further optimized and integrated its airline network layout in east China. In the summer and autumn of 2016, the Beijing-based carrier serves a total of 36 destinations in Shanghai, of which 14 are international and regional flights and 22 are domestic.

The carrier's other U.S. and Canada gateways offer nonstop services from Beijing to Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Newark, Washington Dulles, Houston, Honolulu, Vancouver and Montreal.

The Star Alliance competes with Hainan Airlines on Beijing-San Jose service, which is offered five times a week with Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.