More airlines resume intl flights to China, as epidemic is controlled

More airlines are resuming international flights to and from China, and it is likely that July will see the biggest number of international flights since pandemic restrictions were placed on international air travel in early 2020.

Air China said on Thursday that it will resume a number of international routes to cities in Europe and Asia. The carrier’s resumed routes include Beijing to Dubai round trip.

Other Chinese carriers including China Eastern Airlines,

China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Xiamen Airlines have announced resumption of international routes or increased frequencies.

China Eastern and Shanghai Airlines will fly 22 international routes per week in July, including from Shanghai to New York, according to the WeChat account of China Eastern on Thursday.

Hainan Airlines expects to add routes including Beijing to Moscow and Beijing- Tokyo.

Overseas carriers are also busy mapping flights.

Japan’s All Nippon Airways said it will resume flights from Beijing to Tokyo from July 11. It is the carrier’s first flight to Beijing after being suspended for more than two years.

The flight is scheduled to fly on Mondays.

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has resumed passenger flights between Abu Dhabi and Beijing as a plane landed in Beijing on Thursday. It is the first direct passenger flight from Abu Dhabi to Beijing since March 23, 2020.

It is believed that with the improvement of the domestic epidemic situation in China, flights will gradually increase, which is also a positive development, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a press conference on Thursday, adding that China has been updating and adjusting relevant policies based on the epidemic prevention situation.

China tweaked its COVID- 19 prevention playbook to halve the quarantine time for close contacts and international arrivals from 14 days to seven days, which also gives much more confidence to the market.

A gradual relaxation of the epidemic prevention policy can boost tourism as well as economic, trade and cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world, Adam Li, vice president of Emirates Airline China, told the Global Times.