China readies plan to end COVID flight suspensions

The State Council, which oversees China’s bureaucracy, recently asked government agencies including the civil aviation regulator to prepare to end the mechanism, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is sensitive. The system temporarily bars airlines from operating on specific routes to China for one to two weeks, depending on how many COVID-positive passengers they bring into the country. A similar mechanism for Hong Kong was stopped in July.

The request is part of a broader three-step plan designed in mid-year to normalize China’s aviation industry, the people said, while the country has effectively cut itself off from the rest of the world by its pandemic border controls.

The first step was to increase the number of flights to China, which seems to be already underway. The Civil Aviation Administration of China, or CAAC, said last month that the country will have more than double the number of international passenger flights between October and the end of March compared to the same period a year earlier, and airlines such as China Eastern Airlines Corp. and China Southern Airlines Corp. have said they are already considering increasing flights.

The approach now appears to have advanced to step two, with senior leaders recently asking regulators to come up with a plan to relax the rule. The third step would be to facilitate a full return to normal air traffic, the people said. It is not clear what the timetable is for the implementation of these two steps.

The Council of State and CAAC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Evidence that China is even considering changes that would ease its global isolation would be scrutinized by investors, at a time when Chinese stocks are near multi-year lows due to economic damage caused by lockdowns, tests and border restrictions. because of the zero COVID policy.

Airline stocks including China Eastern and China Southern extended gains in Hong Kong on news of a possible easing of the flight ban, while the yuan rose in offshore trading.