An airplane from China Eastern Airlines at the Beijing Daxing International Airport Photo: Courtesy of China Eastern Airlines

China's airline-related shares rallied on Friday as the country takes a cautious yet significant step to relax restrictions on international flights.

In the Shanghai stock market, China Eastern Airlines' share price closed at 4.50 yuan ($0.63) on Friday, up 6.38 percent. Air China shares were up 6.85 percent to 7.18 yuan at the Shanghai stock market, and Hong Kong-listed Beijing Capital International Airport Co's shares climbed 11.59 percent to HK$5.68 ($0.73).

According to the rules released Thursday by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), China's aviation regulator, all international carriers that were not previously allowed to resume operations can select one of 37 designated Chinese cities and resume one flight each week to that city starting Monday.

Aviation is one of the industries hit hardest by the pandemic as countries and regions have issued lockdowns, with both personal and business travel drastically cut across the world. Total revenue of the global airline industry was forecast to drop 55 percent year-on-year in 2020, data from the International Air Transport Association showed.

With the COVID-19 largely under control after months of all-out efforts, China has been promoting economic recovery on the premise of sound prevention measures.

China Eastern Airlines has resumed 1,600 domestic air flights a day, about 60 percent of the same period last year. It has also launched over 400 international cargo flights per week so far, according to a statement sent to the Global Times by the airline on Friday.

Data from aviation information platform Variflight.com shows 70 percent of China's domestic flights were resumed in May.