A flight carrying German business travelers from Frankfurt, jointly arranged by German Chamber of Commerce in China, German diplomatic missions, and Lufthansa airlines, landed in Tianjin in 2020. Photo: Courtesy of Lufthansa Group

The German Chamber of Commerce in China is organizing charter flights to China, bringing in key personnel and their families as well as short-term experts over the summer, the chamber said on its WeChat account on Wednesday.

The chamber said that together with the German Embassy in China, it has been in talks with the Chinese Foreign Ministry about the resumption of a fast-track process for invitation letters, visa applications and charter flights. 

Starting from the third week of July until mid-September, the chamber is planning to resume China-bound charter flights between Frankfurt and Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province.

The service includes quarantine management and invitation letter assistance with the cost starting at 2,500 euros ($2,980).

German nationals with a valid residence permit in China and their family members, as well as employees of German companies, their spouses and families, short-term experts and business travelers as well as foreign nationals coming to China for necessary economic, trade, scientific or technological activities, can apply for seats on the flights. 

The plan follows a Chinese-German government consultation in April in which the two sides agreed to make better use of the "fast-track" process and discuss cooperation in pandemic prevention and control, including the mutual recognition of international health codes.

Last year, the two sides carried out an efficient "fast-track" cooperation system, which fully represented the resilience of China-Germany cooperation and the potential of bilateral collaboration against the pandemic.

In 2020, charter flights offered by the German chamber helped bring 2,800 managers, employees and their families to China, according to the chamber.

Global Times