The total number of infections stand at 82,995, of which 1,734 are imported. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
All the economy tickets for the June flights have already been booked, the person said.Juneyao Airlines’ website showed that the available tickets for flights from Helsinki to Shanghai are priced at more than 60,000 yuan ($8,440) for a single trip, compared with as little as 6,000 yuan a year ago. However, a draft of the proposed new regulations will be issued in August and the measures brought into effect in October. BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese civil aviation authorities plan to extend until June 30 their curbs on international flights to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the U.S. embassy in Beijing said in a travel advisory on Friday. China Southern Airlines is proposing to add more flights to multiple U.S. cities from July, while China Eastern Airlines is aiming to ramp up capacity from September, according to the U.S. government website.
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Dubbed the Under the restrictions, the weekly number of international flights into China dropped 90% to around 133, according to a Caixin calculation. Currently, China requires all inbound travelers to take compulsory nucleic acid tests and stay in centralized quarantine before they can travel freely in the country. The CAAC said any change in the flight policy will be announced in advance and the approval procedure will be modified accordingly. A so-called “Five One” policy allows mainland carriers to fly just one flight a week on one route to any country and foreign airlines to operate just one flight a week to China. The CAAC introduced the policy in 2009 for long-haul international routes to prevent mainly China’s state-backed airlines from competing too aggressively on routes deemed difficult to profit from. A staffer at Juneyao Airlines said the carrier’s international flights in April and May were all fully booked.
For instance, airlines should seek approval for June and July plans in May and submit August plans by the end of June. Several foreign airlines seeking to resume flights into China submitted applications to Chinese regulators but have not yet received approvals, people familiar with the matter told Caixin.
Sources told Caixin that at least six foreign airlines applied to resume some of their China flights in June but the regulator has yet to give a nod. U.S. airlines are not flying to China at all because they suspended services before the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) imposed restrictions on air travel.
But travelers may face long delays to get refunds.Amid public complaints, the CAAC said airlines should not pre-sell tickets for international flights that have yet to be resumed.
A so-called “Five One” policy allows mainland carriers to fly just one flight a week on one route to any country and foreign airlines to operate just one flight a week to China. Dubbed the Five-One policy, the rule limits all domestic airlines to one international flight per week to each country, while foreign airlines can fly into China no more than once per week. Chinese airlines have over the past few days submitted flight schedules to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Reuters searches on a U.S. government website showed. If five or more passengers on one flight test positive for COVID-19 upon arrival, the CAAC will bar the airline from services for a week.
The CAAC implemented the “one route, one airline” policy in 2009 for long-haul routes to prevent airlines from competing too aggressively against each other. When asked about the U.S. embassy statement on the extension of restrictions, a CAAC news department official told Reuters there was no change to the existing rules. The CAAC said all airlines will be allowed to increase the number of international flights involving China to two per week if no passengers on their flights test positive for COVID-19 for three consecutive weeks. The CAAC intends to maintain the restrictive policies out of concern that the raging spread of the Covid-19 disease abroad raises the risk of importing cases, said a person close to the administration who declined to be identified. Reporting by Stella Qiu and Se Young Lee; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Shri Navaratnam and Himani SarkarFILE PHOTO: An aircraft takes off at Hongqiao International Airport in Shanghai, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, China May 19, 2020.
Juneyao Airlines currently operates weekly flights from Shanghai to Finland, Japan and Singapore. China’s civil aviation regulator said Wednesday that the March 29 policy capping international flights would remain in effect.