Diversions of Beijing-bound flights running smoothly

An ambulance takes passengers who had fevers on a London-Beijing flight to hospital in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, on Sunday. (WU YUNSHENG/FOR CHINA DAILY)

The diversion of inbound flights headed for Beijing to other airports has been running smoothly, as has the resumption of domestic flights in Hubei province, the region hit hardest by the novel coronavirus, according to China's top aviation regulator.

As of Wednesday, 106 international flights carrying 24,651 passengers bound for Beijing have been diverted to 12 designated airports, Ma Bing, chief of the operation monitoring center under the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said on Thursday.

About 84 percent of those passengers either failed to pass health inspections or were in proximity to those who failed. All of them were either held locally for treatment or placed in 14-day quarantine, he said.

Since March 20, inbound flights that terminate at Beijing have been diverted to a dozen cities and provinces including Shanghai, Tianjin and Shandong province, where all passengers must be tested for the virus upon disembarkation. Those cleared of the pathogen are allowed to reboard the aircraft to the capital.

The airport in Tianjin has handled the largest number of diverted flights so far with 30, followed by airports in Qingdao, Shandong province, and Hohhot, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, which have handled 15 and 14 diverted flights respectively, Ma added.

The CAAC has also rolled out orders slashing international flights in a bid to curb the surging number of imported coronavirus cases.

The number of weekly international flights stands at 108 between March 29 and April 4, with 88 flights operated by 18 domestic airlines and 20 flights operated by 20 overseas carriers, he said, adding that the United States, Thailand, Cambodia and Japan are the top four countries for flights bound for China.

Jin Junhao, an official with the CAAC's transportation department, said that the country's effective coronavirus containment has set the stage for the nation's aviation sector to pick up more quickly.

The country handled a daily average of 6,533 flights last month, a 20.5 percent month-on-month increase and 42 percent of the previrus average, Jin said.

He added that a large number of flights were bound for the country's southwestern and northwestern regions, as well as the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions, where there are high labor demands.

With the exception of Tianhe International Airport in Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei, all passenger and cargo flights on domestic air routes via airports in Hubei resumed on Sunday to help the province return to its pre-virus socioeconomic levels, Jin said.

By the end of Wednesday, airports in Hubei's Yichang, Xiangyang, Shiyan and Enshi had operated 377 flights and handled 26,423 passenger trips, according to the administration.

The resumption of airport operations has played a big role in helping migrant workers return to their workplaces in a timely manner and promoting local economic development, he said.

Jin also noted that the administration has taken multiple measures to enhance international air cargo capacity during the pandemic and ensure the stability of the global supply chain.

Domestic and foreign-owned international cargo flights in China totaled 1,195 this week, nearly 18 percent higher than the level before the outbreak.