A trial operation of scheduled chartered flight between Shanghai and Tokyo will be launched on or about October 8, under an agreement signed today by both countries' top air traffic watchdogs.

Altogether four flights a day will be scheduled when the trial begins, two from Shanghai's Hongqiao Airport and two from Tokyo's Haneda Airport, Xinhua news agency said today.

The official chartered flight service will kick off by the end of this year, said Yang Guoqing, vice director general with China's General Administration of Civil Aviation.

Yang signed the agreement with Fuyusiba Tetsuzo, Japan's Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, today in Beijing, Xinhua said.

The move was in line with a joint communiqué of the two countries in April, Yang said.

Chartered flights will also be arranged during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which begins on the year's August 8.

China and Japan began normal aviation services in 1974, and since then, at least 7.5 million Chinese or Japanese passengers have flown between the countries.

The 16 airline companies in the two countries are operating 738 flights shuttling between the two nations.

Nineteen cities in China offer direct flights to 17 Japanese cities, Xinhua said.