File photo shows a passenger plane at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in south China's Guangdong Province. Photo: Xinhua

 
Guangzhou, the city in South China's Guangdong Province that accounts for over 90 percent of the country's inbound arrivals during the epidemic, saw more than one-third of its flights cancelled on Monday due to COVID-19 cases in the city. 

As of 11:40 am, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport had canceled 519 flights, accounting for 37.34 percent of the total. Among them, 300 were inbound, accounting for 40.7 percent of the total inbound flights, according to information that flight data services company VariFlight sent to the Global Times.

The cancellations came after the city reported 18 local confirmed COVID-19 cases on Monday.

To curb the spread, starting from 10 pm on Sunday, peopl leaving Guangzhou by air, rail and road were required to present negative nucleic acid test results taken within the previous 72 hours. 

Several airlines including Hainan Airlines, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines announced plans for free refunds for flights using Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Foshan involved in this round of epidemic risk areas.

In terms of international flights, these go through Guangzhou Baiyun Airport and Shenzhen Baoan International Airport. 

In 2020, the passenger throughput of Baiyun airport reached 43.768 million, making it the world's busiest airport. From April to May, Baiyun airport and Bao'an airport carried 1,830 and 375 direct international flights respectively, second only to Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

VariFlight data showed before this outbreak in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the number of inbound and outbound flights on domestic routes of the two airports had returned to the level before the epidemic. 

During the May Day holidays, the flights even exceeded the level of the same period in 2019 by over 20 percent, but the volume shrank after May 21 and is now lower than the same period in 2019.

Guangzhou's local epidemic broke out on May 21, and neighboring cities including Foshan and Shenzhen both reported cases. 

Shenzhen's Yantian Port reported one case on May 21, as an international freight-boarding operator from the port tested positive for COVID-19. The port said that it would suspend accepting heavy export containers from 10 pm, Tuesday to Thursday.

The port is a hub dominated by international routes in Southern China. Nearly 100 routes are served every week, and 60 percent of the routes are to European countries and the US, according to information posted on the official website in October 2018.

The port handles one-third of Guangdong's foreign trade and one-quarter of China's exports to the US, the Shenzhen government said.

Global Times