KLM and Swiss latest European carriers to restore China services

KLM is to restore services to Beijing and increase frequencies to Shanghai this summer, while Swiss International Air Lines will resume passenger flights to the latter Chinese city. They become the latest European carriers to takes steps to rebuild their passenger networks to mainland China following the easing in Covid-related travel rules earlier this year. Swiss will resume weekly flights linking Zurich to Shanghai from 3 March, raising frequency to thrice-weekly from April. The Lufthansa Group carrier served Shanghai daily and Beijing four-times-weekly before the pandemic. While China eased travel restrictions from early January, there was initially a lukewarm reaction from European carriers and governments to restoring air services. Amid the spike in Covid cases in China that accompanied the easing of its zero-Covid policy, European states introduced additional Covid testing requirement for arrivals from the country. Airlines meanwhile, many of whom are facing a stretch on aircraft capacity, bided their time on returning capacity to China. Serving China has also become more challenging, as in keeping with other Asian destinations, route times have increased because European carriers are unable to overfly Russia – a restriction which does not apply to their Chinese counterparts.<br/>