Passengers line to check in at Beijing Daxing International Airport on January 11, 2023. Photo: VCG

Beijing Daxing International Airport said that it will add about 20 overseas routes as the summer schedule starts on Sunday, strengthening commercial and cultural ties between China and the rest of the world.

A Qatar Airways flight from Doha landed on Sunday, marking the resumption of passenger service between the capitals of Qatar and China for the first time since the pandemic. 

Operated daily with a Boeing 777-300ER, the service provides customers with added options when planning travel to and from China. This also allows passengers from the Jing-Jin-Ji Metropolitan Region to seamlessly transit to over 150 destinations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas, via Hamad International Airport.

Beijing is the fifth gateway in China that Qatar Airways has resumed since the pandemic, which effectively increases the airline's operations in the market to 39 weekly flights during the peak of the summer season 2023.

"We will launch more flights to China, and the routes to China during the peak of the IATA summer season 2023 will be 39 routes to five cities including Beijing Daxing and Guangzhou, making Qatar Airways the largest Gulf carrier to operate in China based on overall frequency," Chan Cheong Eu, Qatar Airways' senior manager for sales, North Asia told the Global Times on Sunday.

Our partnership with Qatar Airways will strengthen our vision to become a preferred air hub for leisure and business travelers in the region and beyond, said Hao Ling, deputy general manager of Beijing Daxing International Airport.

Air Macau also resumed flights from Beijing Daxing to Macao on Sunday, followed by a route from Beijing Daxing to Phnom Penh run by Cambodia Airways on Monday.

Etihad Airways, and Air Asia will open flights from Beijing Daxing to Abu Dhabi and Kuala Lumpur this week.

China Southern Airlines will open flights from Beijing Daxing to Moscow four times per week, and the frequency will be increased to daily from June 19. The carrier will restart the Beijing Daxing to Amsterdam and Gimpo routes. More routes are expected to cover Osaka and London.

A total of 169 domestic and foreign airlines will offer 117,222 passenger and cargo flights per week during the summer, data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) showed. 

In terms of international passenger transport, 28 domestic airlines plan to operate 6,772 international regular passenger flights every week, serving 101 cities in 55 countries and regions. There are 88 foreign airlines flying to China from 79 cities in 47 countries, and they plan to operate 3,808 regular passenger flights per week, the CAAC said.