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

Foreign airlines including Air Canada and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines say they are adding additional flight to China, reflecting increased international aviation travel as the COVID-19 pandemic begins to ease in some parts of the world.

Air Canada will add a second weekly flight between Vancouver and Shanghai, starting Sunday, the airline said Monday in a press release.

‪KLM Royal Dutch Airlines recently told the Global Times that it will resume passenger flights between Amsterdam and Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang Province on Thursday,  adding to its existing two weekly flights between the Netherlands and the Chinese mainland.‬

The British Chamber of Commerce in China (BCCC) said earlier that it is organizing the first charter flight since the COVID-19 pandemic to return British nationals to China on September 12. 

The planned charter flight is in partnership with a leading UK airline which will depart London Heathrow to Shanghai's Pudong Airport, according to a notice on the BCCC's public WeChat account. It said that a minimum of 120 passengers is required. 

Passengers arriving in China are still required to undergo a period of quarantine and the measures vary from city to city. 

The need for foreigners and Chinese nationals' to return to China has been rising as the global pandemic begins to ease in some parts of the world. 

"Along with China's increasing capability in COVID-19 prevention and control, and to aid business recovery, China is gradually increasing the number of international flights," Lin Zhijie, a market watcher from Aviation Think Tank under the Civil Aviation Administration of China  (CAAC) told the Global Times on Monday. He said that China is also adding flights to the US, Southeast Asia and Europe.

By August 12, 93 domestic and foreign airlines were operating 187 regular international passenger flights, to 50 countries, according to data from CAAC. China has resumed regular passenger flights to 20 countries.

China remains cautious of the cross-border spread of the coronavirus and in June imposed incentives and circuit breaking measures on inbound flights.

CAAC is set to impose a week-long suspension of flights by  China's Juneyao Airlines starting Monday, after eight passengers on flight HO1606 from Singapore to Shanghai tested positive for COVID-19 on August 15.

China Eastern Airlines flight MU212 flying from Manila to Shanghai halted for a week after nine passengers on the August 12 flight were tested positive.