/biz/ - Business & Finance

>https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202208/13/WS62f6e7f4a310fd2b29e71f16.html

China Aviation

>Several airlines seek to tap growing demand for biz and education travel

After a hiatus of more than two years, more international flights to and from China restarted this month after the country's aviation regulator decided to relax rules-this bodes well for the recovery of a sector hurt by COVID-19 and subsequent losses, industry experts said on Friday.

Direct flights between China and the United Kingdom resumed on Thursday after a gap of more than 18 months, following negotiations between the Civil Aviation Administration of China and the UK's Department for Transport, the British Embassy in Beijing said on Wednesday.

Air China took the lead by restarting direct flights between Beijing and London on Thursday, followed by China Eastern Airlines that relaunched services from Shanghai to London on Friday, while China Southern Airlines announced flights from Guangzhou to London from Aug 17.

Flights to other European destinations also resumed. Hainan Airlines announced restoration of direct flights between Beijing and Berlin on Friday. This is the Hainan-based carrier's fourth regular intercontinental flight to resume service from Beijing or surrounding areas since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, according to Securities Daily.

"The resumption of these international flights resulted from China's constantly optimized measures for containing COVID-19, which has boosted confidence of carriers to restore more outbound flights," said Zheng Hongfeng, founder and CEO of aviation data and solutions provider Vari-Flight.

The CAAC said on Sunday that any flight with five detected COVID-19 cases will be suspended for one week when the confirmed cases account for 4 percent of all those onboard, and for two weeks when the confirmed cases account for 8 percent of those on board.