China is one of the most important markets within the Asia-Pacific region. Unlike the majority of its peer markets, the country has continued to impose the world's strictest pandemic border regime. It is only just starting to gradually reopen, perhaps signifying a time for finally moving on from the pandemic. And for the first time in over two years, Beijing is welcoming back scheduled international commercial flights.

Reopening Beijing to the rest of the world

Following the coronavirus outbreak, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) banned direct international flights from arriving in Beijing in early 2020. Passengers looking to head to Beijing had to first land at one of several pre-approved cities, where they would be required to quarantine before traveling onward to the capital. Aside from the hassle of getting to Beijing, traveling to China and moving around the various towns proved difficult due to its varying quarantine rules.

Eventually, China faced isolation from the rest of the world as anyone looking to travel to the country faced a long list of varying requirements and possible disruptions. Inbound flights became constrained by a rule that limited airlines to just one international flight a week. There were also passenger caps and the possibility of complete flight suspensions under the country's circuit breaker for detected positive COVID cases among arrivals.

Highlighting the dramatic effect such regulations have had on China, less than 100 international flights were inbound and outbound from China on July 26th this year, down from 2,883 on the same day back in 2019.

Still, China's aviation recovered rather quickly at first due to its large domestic market. However, the government's zero-COVID policy saw sweeping lockdowns in the wake of the Omicron variant impacting the rebound. In April, the total number of daily flights operated domestically stood at about 2,000 to 3,000, less than one-quarter of the flights recorded in the same month the year prior. However, as major hubs begin opening up, numbers are back up to over 8,000.

Meanwhile, sensing that China cannot remain closed and rely solely on domestic flights forever, the CAAC said earlier this month that it would continue gradually resuming international commercial aviation. Beginning with the airports in Beijing, the CAAC said it would continue ramping up negotiations with certain countries to increase flight services.

Airlines are ready to fly

Domestic airlines

With the reopening of Beijing to the rest of the world, Chinese carriers are, in all probability, excited about restarting their international route networks. Air China is scheduled to resume several international routes to cities in Asia and Europe, including the direct service from Beijing to Paris and its popular Beijing to Dubai route.

On the other hand, Xiamen Airlines announced its intention to resume several international routes and gradually increase flight frequencies. China Eastern Airlines has planned for a major international comeback as it intends to operate more than 130 international flights per week. Hainan Airlines has resumed flight services from Beijing to Belgrade and is planning to add new international routes, including Beijing to Moscow and Beijing to Tokyo.

Foreign airlines

Sharing the excitement of the Chinese carriers are the foreign carriers, which have been just as busy mapping out flights to Beijing. Japan's All Nippon Airways has resumed weekly flights from Tokyo-Narita to Beijing fairly recently, scheduled for every Monday. The Japanese carrier then plans to restart flights from Tokyo-Narita to Beijing to make the route a round-trip and will subsequently increase the frequencies to include Thursdays in the schedule.

Air France has also resumed one weekly flight from Paris to Beijing, enhancing connections between the two capital cities. Following its inaugural flight from Abu Dhabi to Beijing on March 23rd, 2020, Etihad is ready to return to the Chinese capital with a regular weekly service, flying every Wednesday from Abu Dhabi and operated by the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. Ahmed Al Qubaisi, Senior Vice President, Government International & Communications, Etihad Aviation Group, commented:

"Etihad continues to deliver on its commitment to facilitating a resilient and prosperous air bridge between the UAE and China. This maintains passenger and cargo movement and supports economic and political exchanges between both nations."

Bottom line

Beijing's reopening to the world comes at a decent timing, just as the Asia-Pacific region is seeing robust improvements in international passenger numbers, which are unfortunately still far below pre-pandemic levels. With the inclusion of passengers from China, the recovery within the region will undoubtedly accelerate further. And as China continues to open more, it is even possible that the region could be close to pre-pandemic levels by the end of this year.

Source: Bloomberg