Beijing to resume direct international flights

China’s aviation regulator said on Wednesday it will resume direct flights to Beijing from eight countries including Thailand, Cambodia, Greece, Denmark, Sweden and Canada from Sept. 3.

In March, Chinese authorities ordered all international flights to Beijing to be diverted to other airports as their first port of entry, as the capital stepped up measures to battle imported infections.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China said it would reimpose such curbs if more than three passengers test positive for the coronavirus upon arrival, and that load factors on such flights would be strictly controlled.

“Beijing will gradually resume direct inbound flights to the city from eight countries, including Cambodia, Greece, Denmark, Thailand, Austria and Canada, starting Thursday,” the statement reads.

“Priority will be given to flights from countries with low risk of cross-border infection, where nucleic acid tests have been conducted,” spokesperson for the Beijing municipal government, Xu Hejian, told a press conference on Wednesday.

“Negative COVID-19 test results before boarding will be prerequisite for passengers of Beijing-bound flights.”

Air travel has been picking up gradually since the coronavirus grounded the majority of planes in February.

Last month, domestic arrivals at Chinese airports reached 86% of 2019 levels according to figures from ForwardKeys.

Its prediction is a glimmer of hope for the airline industry, which is suffering mass layoffs and losses.

By mid-February, the majority of flights within China were cancelled as it took measures to control the spread of the virus.

As virus cases reduced, more flights were re-instated and bookings are now back to 98%, with most being for travel in mid to late August.

“This is a highly significant moment because it is the first time, since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, that a major segment of the aviation market anywhere in the world has returned to pre-pandemic levels,” said Olivier Ponti at ForwardKeys.

Its forecast that domestic flights will fully recover by early September is based on a number of factors, such as keeping the pandemic under control and the continued use of “aggressive price promotions”.

Many Chinese airlines have launched discounts to entice passengers back, with some promotions targeted at university students.

Travel to Sanya, the holiday hotspot in the South China Sea, has seen strong recovery helped by a new duty-free policy.

“The crunch question is whether heavy discounting will still be needed to maintain the recovery,” added Mr Ponti.

“China’s advantage is that they have a huge domestic hinterland, and they have a strong domestic tourism market, which can help the Chinese carriers mitigate any impact,” added Alfred Chua at FlightGlobal magazine.

However, Chinese travel to Beijing is still 24.8% behind the same period in 2019, held back by the city’s second coronavirus outbreak in early June.

China has seen a drastic decline in coronavirus cases in the last two months.

The country recorded eight new infections on Tuesday, taking its tally to 85,066 with over 80,000 recoveries and 4,634 deaths.