(Yicai Global) June 22 -- China’s aviation authority is stepping up the number of international flights, and at the same time several cities have halved the length of quarantine for overseas arrivals, as the country moves to get global travel back on track.

China Southern Airlines will start flying once a week to Moscow from Shenzhen and to Istanbul from Wuhan, as well as to Dehli from Guangzhou once every two weeks, industry insiders told Yicai Global. The Guangzhou-based carrier is also increasing the frequency of flights on routes between Guangzhou and Yangon in Myanmar and Phnom Penh in Cambodia.

Earlier this month, Air China, Hainan Airlines and Beijing Capital Airlines began flying to North America, Europe and South Asia again, a month after China’s cabinet asked carriers to increase domestic and international flights in an orderly manner.

From next month, China Southern will also restart flights between Urumuqi in northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and neighboring countries, including to the cities of Bishkek and Almaty in Kazakhstan, Ashgabat in Turkmenistan and Dushanbe in Tajikistan. There will be one flight every two weeks to each destination to start with.

Many Chinese cities have started to quietly reduce the time spent in quarantine. Southeastern Zhejiang province is cutting the quarantine period for those arriving from abroad to seven days from the previous 14, although they will need to spend another seven days in home-based self-isolation during which they will be monitored, the provincial government said yesterday.

And those who arrive in China via Shanghai bound for Zhejiang will spend the first three days of quarantine in Shanghai before being transferred to Jiaxing in Zhejiang for the remaining four days.

Southwestern Sichuan province was the first to say it is reducing the quarantine period for overseas arrivals on June 15, cutting the period to 10 days from 14. It was followed by several other places, including Nanjing in eastern Jiangsu province and Wuhan in central Hubei province, which also only require seven days in isolation now, Yicai Global learned. And Xiamen in southeastern Fujian province is piloting the scheme of 10 days’ quarantine followed by seven days in self-isolation.

Editors: Liao Shumin, Kim Taylor