Despite the end of the quarantine obligation: hardly any flights to and from China

Status: 03.02.2023 2:49 p.m

The quarantine requirement in China has been abolished since the beginning of January. Airlines are allowed to fly there again without restrictions. But the number of international flights has hardly increased. Why?

By Benjamin Eyssel, ARD Studio Beijing

A press conference earlier this week in Beijing: Lin Yongsheng from the Chinese border authorities presented figures. According to this, almost 2.9 million people entered or left the country during the great wave of travel for the first spring festival since the beginning of the pandemic without restrictions.

The number of border crossings has more than doubled compared to the Spring Festival a year ago, but is still far from the pre-pandemic level. It is striking that only a fraction of the arrivals and departures during this time is accounted for by air travel (330,000). There are still only a few international flights at Chinese airports.

Offer well below expectations

The Shanghai aviation expert David Yu is surprised that the supply has not increased more: “Actually, everyone expected that the opening of the borders and the lifting of the Covid restrictions would be accompanied by a recovery in international air traffic.”

According to research by ARD in China, for example, the number of flights between Germany and the People’s Republic has hardly increased since the end of the quarantine obligation at the beginning of January.

For example, the state-owned Chinese airline Air China currently flies five times a week from Chinese airports to Frankfurt am Main, and Hainan Airlines once a week from Beijing to Berlin and back. Deutsche Lufthansa is currently flying three times a week from mainland China to Germany, and there are also two flights with Austrian Airlines from Shanghai to Vienna and back, according to a company spokeswoman.

No comparison to pre-pandemic levels

For comparison: Before the pandemic, the Lufthansa Group with its brands Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian flew more than 80 times a week from Europe to mainland China and back. Even if airlines now want to gradually increase their number of flights, the pre-pandemic level is still a long way off.

The Lufthansa spokeswoman said that this year this will not be achieved again. According to the spokeswoman, many aircraft are currently being used on other routes, and the flight plan cannot be changed overnight.

Problems with machines and personnel

David Yu gives other reasons why there are still so few flights: Chinese airlines in particular still have many mothballed machines. “It takes 60 to 90 days to bring aircraft back into operational condition when they are parked for a long time,” said the aviation expert.

“Another thing to consider is the crew. There’s a huge need for staff in the airline industry. Also, you can’t get slots overnight at the airports you want around the world. That will take some time to settle that normalizes.”

In the end a lucrative situation

And Yu cites another reason why airlines may not necessarily have an interest in offering as many flights as possible at once. Because a larger offer could quickly depress the currently very high flight prices.

“Airlines are making good profits on international flights from China, so it will take a while before they increase capacity. They certainly don’t want to do it so quickly that it hurts profits on these routes.”

China further isolated: hardly any flights even after the end of the quarantine

Benjamin Eyssel, ARD Beijing, February 2, 2023 4:56 a.m

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