The red carpet was rolled out at Cairns Airport yesterday morning to welcome the inaugural China Eastern Airlines flight on the new scheduled service non-stop from Shanghai.

The arriving Chinese passengers were treated to a performance by indigenous dancers before official proceedings commenced.

Cairns Airport Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Brown, said the inaugural flight marks the culmination of months of work which began when China Eastern announced the new service in July this year.

"Since then both Cairns Airport and the region as a whole have worked hard to ensure we offer our Chinese visitors a warm welcome and meet the needs of Chinese visitors," Mr Brown said.

"The service provides direct access from mainland China, one of our fastest growing tourism source markets, and strengthens the positioning of Cairns as the Asian gateway to Australia.

"The direct flight gives Chinese visiting Australia the opportunity to arrive into Cairns, enjoy our region and then continue on to other Australian destinations, or to arrive elsewhere, complete their holiday here and depart from Cairns.

"It also offers the opportunity for Australian travellers to take a direct flight to Shanghai to visit China or take advantage of the excellent connections through Shanghai to hundreds of global destinations. The more we can promote and support these opportunities the stronger the chances that China Eastern can continue and grow the new service."

China Eastern is initially operating a schedule that offers two to three flights per week on the route. It is predicted these flights will inject between $25 million and $35 million per year to the regional economy.

"Our aim is to make this a year round service to provide even greater benefit to the region," Mr Brown said.

Tourism Tropical North Queensland Chief Executive Officer, Rob Giason also welcomes the inaugural flight.

"The arrival of Flight CZ 335 marked a symbolic part of the region’s journey to attract 200,000 Chinese visitors by 2015," Mr Giason said.