China Eastern has returned all its aircraft in storage at its Shanghai base to service as domestic demand in China returns to pre-pandemic levels. The carrier is back up to operating 2,400 daily flights and is restoring service to several domestic routes, including Beijing-Guangzhou and Beijing-Chengdu, that had been halted due to the pandemic, it said in a statement. It anticipates traffic to rise in the next several months for the Qingming and May Day holidays. Globally, airlines have mothballed more than 13,700 aircraft since the pandemic began, IATA data show. Few carriers have taken China Eastern’s step of returning pre-pandemic fleets to service. China’s domestic airline market is recovering, after taking a hit during the Lunar New Year travel period last month. By December 2020, domestic traffic had almost returned to pre-pandemic levels, but new Covid-19 outbreaks in the country prompted the central government to limit travel during the Lunar New Year, usually China’s busiest domestic travel period. <br/>