In a sign that China is beginning to relax its strict COVID-19 travel rules, the country has shortened its suspension period for inbound international flights carrying COVID-19 positive passengers. From Sunday, incoming flights carrying five positive COVID-19 cases, or 4% of passengers, will face a reduced one-week suspension, the Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC) said in a statement.
Previously, if a plane brought in five infected passengers, all flights operated by the responsible airline along the same route were suspended for two weeks. According to the CAAC, only flights where 8% of passengers or more test positive for COVID-19 will now be barred for the full two-week period.
The blanket bans have been a source of headaches for both airlines and passengers, with many passengers finding themselves stranded and unable to complete their trip until two weeks later. For airlines, it has also led to aircraft and crew being stranded.
China's strict COVID-19 rules
China is the only major economy in the world which is still following a zero COVID-19 approach. Just this weekend, the coastal city of Sanya was put under a strict lockdown. The city is home to over half a million people and is also very popular with tourists, tens of thousands of whom are now trapped in the latest lockdown.
Highlighting the dramatic effect such travel rules and lockdowns 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.
Late last month, China's CAAC announced that it would also begin restarting scheduled international flights to and from Beijing International Airport. Direct international flights to Beijing were banned 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. The cautious resumption of international scheduled flights to the airport is the latest sign of Beijing easing its strict COVID-19 travel rules.
The impact of zero COVID-19 on China
Although China's aviation rebounded quickly at first due to its large domestic market, the government's zero-COVID policy saw sweeping lockdowns introduced after the outbreak of the Omicron variant. 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.
The Asia-Pacific region has been slower than European and American markets to recover to pre-2019 levels. However, when China's data is excluded, the region performs significantly better. June travel numbers show that international passenger demand rose to its highest since the pandemic as the increasing willingness to fly continues to drive a recovery in leisure and corporate travel. The number of international passengers carried rose more than six-fold year-on-year to a combined 9 million in June, bringing demand to 28.3% of the corresponding pre-pandemic month in 2019 for the Asia-Pacific region.
China's easing of rules will surely help push that figure higher still.
What do you think of China's latest move? Let us know in the comments below.