Many passengers spending New Year's holidays abroad are seen at a departure lobby of the Fukuoka Airport in Japan on December 28, 2022. The number of tourists is increasing following the relaxation of border measures for the COVID-19. Photo: VCG

Airlines from home and abroad are busy restarting international services as China has decided to remove COVID-related travel restrictions from January 8, and Southeast Asian countries are becoming the most favored destinations for Chinese sightseers. 

Shanghai-based Spring Airlines said it will resume services from Shanghai to Hong Kong, Taipei and Phuket, and a route from Guangzhou to Chiang Mai in January, and it will also increase flight frequencies from Shanghai to Bangkok, and from Guangzhou to Phnom Penh. 

At present, Spring Airlines operates 18 overseas routes, covering cities such as Hong Kong, Macao, Seoul and Tokyo.

Juneyao Air said that starting from January 18, it will resume international passenger flights from Shanghai to Chiang Mai, with one flight per day.

Except for Chiang Mai, Juneyao Air told the Global Times that it has fully promoted the resumption of other international routes. Flight routes will focus on Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea.

Data from industry information provider VariFlight sent to the Global Times on Thursday showed a total of 1,371 flights departing the Chinese mainland flying to Southeast Asia in December, a year-on-year increase of 180 percent, and an average of 44 flights per day. The data showed that flights are increasing in January.

The rise of international flights came after China announced plans to cancel inbound quarantine for international arrivals, and it also plans to resume Chinese citizens' outbound travel in an orderly way, starting from January 8.

The optimization of coronavirus responses has triggered soaring travel demand for the upcoming Spring Festival holidays later in January. 

According to travel portal Trip.com, as of January 5, overseas travel orders for the seven-day-long festival surged by 540 percent compared with last year, and the average booking cost increased by 32 percent. 

Trip.com said the top 10 outbound travel destinations for the Spring Festival include Australia, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong and Malaysia. 

Orders for the Spring Festival to Melbourne, Australia increased by more than 50 times year-on-year, and for Bangkok, the increase was more than 10 times.

Hainan Airlines told the Global Times on Thursday that inbound international flights will land directly in Beijing from January 12, instead of being diverted to other cities, and the scheduled routes include Beijing to Berlin, Manchester, Brussels, Belgrade and Moscow. 

Hainan Airlines said it will accelerate the resumption of international flights, and do its best to meet the demand of passengers, both inbound and outbound.

International carriers are also mapping out more flights to China.  

Qatar Airways said it will resume weekly round-trip flights between Doha and Shanghai from January 15. Thai Airways will resume the Chengdu-Bangkok round-trip flight from January 19, with one flight every Thursday.

Korean Air resumed the operation of Shenzhen, Xiamen and Seoul routes in January, while the Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenyang and Dalian routes have added one frequency each week. Round-trip flights between China and South Korea by Korean Air will increase to 15 flights every  week.