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Imaginechina
A Swiss Air passenger plane.
China’s civil aviation regulator on Wednesday published stricter criteria for the suspension of international flights to further curb imported COVID-19 cases.
If five passengers on a flight test positive, flights will be suspended for two weeks, instead of the week in the previous policy, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said.
The suspension will still last four weeks if 10 passengers test positive.
Feng Zhenglin, director of the CAAC, said that preventing coronavirus cases would be a “quite difficult” task during the winter and spring of next year.
It called on airlines to monitor and inspect the implementation of the latest pandemic prevention guidelines, especially as it relates to their staff and international passenger and cargo flights.
The suspensions will be carried out strictly to continue their preventive effect, Feng said.
It also required improved prevention efforts during the Spring Festival travel rush, which will run from January to March next year.
“Coronavirus prevention and safe operation must be ensured during the peak period along with the punctuality rate of flights and customer services,” he said at a meeting on Tuesday.
The CAAC launched its suspension mechanism for international passenger flights in June. As of Tuesday, 139 suspension orders had been issued to 54 domestic airlines and 85 foreign airlines. A total of 268 international passenger flights were canceled.
In a recent case, Swiss Air flight LX188 from Zurich to Shanghai will be suspended for a week from December 27.
The punishment was imposed after six passengers on the flight tested positive for COVID-19 on December 7 after arriving at Pudong International Airport, the CAAC said on Wednesday.
The flight was suspended along with Ethiopian Airlines flight ET636 from Addis Ababa to Chengdu in southwestern Sichuan province and Russian Ikar Airlines flight EO429 from Moscow to Zhengzhou in central Henan province. Both flights will be suspended for a week from December 21.
