(Yicai) April 26 -- Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, and Juneyao Airlines resumed or opened new international routes, with flights from the country again covering six continents.

Air China will open the new Beijing-Riyadh and Beijing-Dhaka routes on April 28. It will also start running the world’s longest route Beijing-Madrid-Sao Paulo and the Beijing-Madrid-Havana route again.

China Southern launched a new direct flight from Shenzhen to Mexico City on April 17, while China Eastern plans to start a new route between Shanghai and Riyadh tomorrow and become the first carrier to fly Shanghai-Marseille on July 2. Juneyao will launch new direct flights from Shanghai to Manchester and Brussels in July, making its first foray into the traditional aviation market in Western Europe.

Air China, China Eastern, and China Southern are recovering their international routes faster than the Civil Aviation Administration of China predicted early this year, Yicai learned.

The number of international and regional flights run by Air China for the summer-autumn seasons has bounced back to 84 percent of the level in 2019, the Beijing-based carrier said. China Eastern’s international flights rebounded to around 90 percent, and those of China Southern recovered to over 70 percent, with the rate likely to reach 80 percent during the summer travel rush.

However, the recovery of international flights varies depending on the destination. For example, European routes have bounced back well overall, but those to Japan and the United States are resuming slowly.

The surge in international routes has resulted in less related revenue for carriers due to declining airfare prices, but some airlines said that their income from such flights is still higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic. China Eastern’s international flight ticket prices rose 13.4 percent in January from 2019, 22 percent in February, and 17.6 percent in March.

Resuming international routes can help airlines release the capacity of wide-body aircraft, according to an analyst. It is also related to whether the three major airlines (Air China, China Southern, China Eastern) can turn a profit this year, the person added.

Editor: Martin Kadiev