China resumes more international flights as COVID cases ebb

China's aviation regulator looks to increase international flight routes as the nation gradually eases COVID-19 cross-border travel curbs. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) hopes to increase flights to and from Vietnam and Thailand, according to local sources. Vietnam's aviation regulator said on Friday it had received a letter from its Chinese counterpart allowing the airlines of both countries to each run two passenger flights per week, up from one currently. Meanwhile, Thailand media reported that China has agreed to increase weekly flights between the countries to two from one for eight airlines. At a briefing on Friday, CAAC official Liang Nan said only that the regulator is negotiating with more nations to gradually increase the number of international flights to the mainland. The moves show how policymakers are throwing another bone to an airline industry that has been crippled by restrictions designed to prevent the spread of COVID. Under the so-called "five-one policy," for the past two years every domestic and overseas airline has only been allowed to operate one return flight from China to another country per week. The restrictions have pushed the nation's aviation industry to the brink. Some Chinese airlines are facing a risk of insolvency, with mainland-based carriers reporting a collective 67b yuan ($10b) loss for last year, official data shows. At the end of 2021, Chinese airlines were operating 279 international routes, 70.7% less than in 2019 before the pandemic, and they completed 1.48 million passenger trips, equivalent to 2% of the total in 2019, according to CAAC.<br/>