China to see rise of int'l flights for winter-spring season

China will see more overseas flights in the winter and spring aviation season starting from Sunday, including new routes and more frequent flights to meet the market's needs.

A total of 178 domestic and foreign airlines have been approved to arrange 19,327 flights per week, reaching 79 foreign countries.

From a regional perspective, passenger air routes to Latin America and Africa are set to expand further, while traditional air transport markets in regions such as Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea, and Europe are steadily increasing, alongside an increase in flights on North American routes.

In addition, the air cargo market is steadily growing, particularly with substantial increases in cargo flights to countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Germany, Britain, Belgium, the United States, and Canada.

Meanwhile, numerous domestic and international airlines will increase their flight frequencies on passenger routes to meet the market demands.

Among international airlines, United Airlines plans to increase flights from four per week to seven per week on the route from Los Angeles to Shanghai Pudong International Airport , while Air Serbia is expected to launch a new route with two weekly flights from Belgrade to Shanghai's Pudong.

Among domestic airlines, Air China plans to launch flights on various routes, including from Urumqi, capital city of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, to Georgia's Tbilisi; from Beijing to Kazakhstan's Alma-Ata, Uzbekistan's Tashkent, and Egypt's Cairo; and from Chengdu, capital city of southwest China's Sichuan Province, to Alma-Ata and Belgium's Brussels. China Eastern Airlines plans to launch flights from Shanghai to Cairo.

"New airlines and routes have been gradually added since October this year. In December, China Southern Airlines will add routes from Beijing Daxing International Airport to Sydney and Melbourne in Australia. Starting from January 2025, other international airlines will also gradually resume some international routes," said Pan Xiaofang, business manager of the aviation business department at Beijing Daxing International Airport.

The winter and spring aviation season starts on Oct 27, 2024 and ends on March 29, 2025.

The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, weakened 34 pips to 6.8130 against the U.S. dollar Wednesday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.

In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.

The central parity rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day.