China relaxes international flight restrictions
CHINESE regulators said yesterday more foreign airlines will be allowed to fly to China as anti-coronavirus controls ease, after Washington vowed to bar Chinese airlines from flying to the United States.
According to an online statement by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, qualifying foreign carriers, about 95 of them currently barred from operating flights to China, will be allowed once-a-week flights into one of the 37 designated cities starting Monday.
Airlines can file their preflight plans for the period until October 24, 2020 to the CAAC, the statement said.
But considering some countries are still banning international flights, it estimated the number of international flights would increase by 50 to 150 per week while the average of passengers arriving per day would rise to 4,700, up from around 3,000 now.
Starting Monday, the CAAC will also introduce a reward and suspension mechanism, with detailed policies for the carriers to increase or suspend flights. If all inbound passengers of a flight test negative for novel coronavirus for three weeks in a row, the operating airline will be allowed to increase the number of flights to two per week.
If the number of passengers testing positive reaches five, the flight will be suspended for a week. The suspension will last four weeks if the number of passengers testing positive reaches 10.
The CAAC also said China may “modestly increase” flights from some qualified countries under the conditions of controllable risks and adequate receiving capacities.
The qualified countries include those having so far exported few COVID-19 cases to China while maintaining close economic and trade ties with China.
Countries with a large number of Chinese nationals who have a strong demand for returning, as well as countries that have established “fast tracks” with China to meet work and production resumption needs, are also qualified under the conditions, according to the CAAC.
The announcement came after the US government said it would bar Chinese passenger carriers starting from June 16, pressuring Beijing to let US airlines to resume flights.
The CAAC has slashed international flights since late March to allay concerns over rising coronavirus infections brought by arriving passengers. Mainland carriers are limited to one flight a week on one route to any country and foreign airlines are allowed to operate just one flight a week to a city in China.
Carriers could also fly no more than the number of flights in a weekly schedule approved by the CAAC on March 12. US passenger airlines already stopped all flights to China at that time, meaning they were unable to resume flights to China.
The US Department of Transportation has said previously it will reconsider the decision against Chinese airlines if the CAAC adjusts its policies affecting US airlines.
The Chinese foreign ministry expressed regret at the US announcement and said CAAC was “making solemn complaints” to the department of transportation.
“Some progress has already been made in the arrangements. China has also announced adjustments of its policies,” said ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian. “We hope the United States will not create obstacles for solving the problem.”
(Agencies)