Photo: Tu Lei/GT

The latest switch of flights to Beijing's new giant airport has begun, as a Mu2467 from China Eastern Airlines took off from Beijing Daxing International Airport to Xi'an, Northeast China's Shaanxi Province Sunday morning. 

It is the third time that China Eastern shifited its aircrafts from Beijing Capital International Airport to the Beijing Daxing International Airport, the second hub which was opened to the public in September, 2019.

From Sunday, China Eastern plans to move 57 flights per month to the new airport. 

China Eastern, together with Shanghai Airlines and China United Airlines will have more than 66 percent of their flights in Beijing flying from Daxing, accounting for more than 40 percent of the total flight volume of Daxing, which is the largest portion of flights for the airport. 

Zhu Jianhua, a manager from Daxing airport told the Global Times Sunday that the number of daily passengers in and out of the airport is expected to reach 5,000 after this switch, a slight increase from before.  

Photo: Tu Lei/GT

On March 29 and April 12, the new airport transferred two batches of flights.  The transfer for China Eastern is mainly composed of domestic flights.

However, the epidemic also has interrupted the airlines' overseas expansion.

Zhong Ke, an official from China Eastern told the Global Times that the carrier had planned to open three overseas flights in June and July, such as Daxing to Paris, Haneda and Moscow. "When to resume will depend on the policy of the flight regulators," he said. 

China Eastern Airlines has temporarily transferred the international inbound and outbound flights from Daxing, making Beijing Capital International Airport the only hub to overseas countries.  

On April 12, Daxing airport executed its second batch of China Southern transfers, as the carrier started to move half of its flights volume in Beijing to the new airport. But from March 2021, all China Southern flights to and from Beijing will be transferred to Daxing airport for operation.

China Eastern, China Southern and Air China will fly in both of the two airports.  

Global Times