Shanghai is slated to become the first Chinese city to offer "visa on board" services to Chinese and foreign air passengers who fly Garuda Indonesia airlines direct to Jakarta, the state-run carrier said Wednesday.

The service will allow passengers to obtain a tourist visa before landing at no extra costs, with visa applications and two Indonesian immigration officers on the plane to process the visa in the air, the airline said.

"The same service is available on our flights from Europe and Japan, and has been widely welcomed by passengers," Karen Xu, sales manager for Garuda Indonesia, told Wednesday. "By cutting down on the time and efforts required for visa processing, we hope to attract more Chinese tourists and others traveling from Shanghai."

The service follows Indonesia's implementation of "visa on arrival" policy for Chinese tourists seven years ago, and is expected to be extended to other Chinese cities in the future, including Beijing and Guangzhou, Xu added.

The airline, which managed some 180,000 passengers from Shanghai to Indonesia last year, accounting for roughly 36 percent of Chinese tourists who traveled to Indonesia's capital, operates one direct flight from Shanghai and Jakarta daily.

Local media reported that Indonesia has seen an increasing number of Chinese tourists since early this year, when travelers began choosing the country as a regional alternative to the Philippines, which remains involved in an ongoing dispute with China over Huangyan Island.

Related News in Chinese:
鹰航力促百万中国游客游印尼 提供机上签证服务