Passengers from Hong Kong arrive at Beijing Capital International Airport on January 8, 2023. Photo: VCG

The weekly number of outbound flights from Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) has recovered to 8 percent of the level before 2019, and it is expected to reach more than 20 percent in February as more airlines resume international services.

Su Zengrong, who is responsible for aviation development at the BCIA, made the remarks in an interview with the Global Times on Friday.

The BCIA has resumed a certain scale of routes to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, as well as international routes to 23 countries in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. The weekly flight volume has reached 180, returning to 8 percent of the level before the epidemic, Su said.

It is expected that in February, the BCIA will see a further recovery of outbound passenger flights, reaching more than 20 percent of the pre-epidemic level, Su added.

At present, 21 Chinese and foreign airlines including Air China, Hainan Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines have resumed international and regional flights at the airport, according to Su.

Since the orderly resumption of international flights on January 8, the number of flights and passengers has gradually increased.

From January 8 to 12, the Beijing airport had more than 230 inbound and outbound flights, and the inbound flights were mainly from Hong Kong, Macao, Moscow and Singapore, said Wu Jiao from the General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection in Beijing.

It is estimated that the number of inbound and outbound tourists will exceed 50,000 from January 13 to 27, Wu said.

Global Times