(Yicai) Oct. 27 -- The Civil Aviation Administration of China said it will continue encouraging Chinese and foreign airlines to actively resume international passenger flights, with flight operations now reaching over 50 percent of their pre-pandemic levels.

The CAAC will also promote the improvement of China’s international route network, officials at the CAAC said at a press conference today.

During the eight-day Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday, the number of international flights recovered to 56 percent of the pre-pandemic level, said Liang Nan, director of the Transport Department of CAAC.Last week, some 3,875 international flights to 61 countries were operated in China, at about 51 percent of the same period in 2019, Liang noted, adding that the international flight volume to 22 countries, including the United Kingdom, Italy, and the United Arab Emirates, were close or higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic.

For the winter-spring season starting on Oct. 29, 116 airlines will operate 6,502 international weekly flights, recovering to nearly 71 percent of the same period in 2019. Over 13,000 passenger flight plans involving 65 overseas countries were approved.

Fifty-one Chinese airlines will arrange 94,072 domestic passenger flights per week in the winter-spring season, up 1.2 percent from a year earlier and 33 percent from the winter-spring season between 2019 and 2020.

Moreover, the CAAC has increased internal and external coordination and actively improved the accessibility of flights from countries along the Belt and Road initiative, Liang pointed out.

Editor: Futura Costaglione