Wendy Zhang/ Shanghai Daily news

From May 17 to June 27, Chinese tourists starting from Beijing or Shanghai only need to pay 6,888 yuan (US$830) for economic-class round trip air-tickets to Europe via Amsterdam, while the previous prices reached more than 8,200 yuan, said Liu Jiahong, a spokesman with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines' Beijing office yesterday.

"The prices are applying to all the scheduled flights with the KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and the code-sharing flights, but passengers have to transfer planes at Amsterdam," Liu said.

The special offer doesn't apply to scheduled flights operated by the China Southern Airlines, Liu pointed out.

Tourists can take direct flights from Beijing or Shanghai to Amsterdam and then transfer to other European cities, and the 6,888-yuan package includes round-trip tickets of four air courses at most, she added.

On March 11, the Austrian Airlines introduced air-tickets of 7,088 yuan for Chinese tourists to go to Europe, followed by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines which offered much lower prices, said an industry analyst with the North China administration of Civil Aviation Administration of China.

The price war for air-tickets to Europe is escalating, and foreign airlines are trying hard to expand their business and woo passengers in the country.