The Air Canada check-in counter at Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on January 18, 2023 Photo: VCG

Hainan Airlines resumed direct flights between Beijing and Canada's Toronto on Sunday, as Chinese mainland and Canadian airlines start to intensively increase and resume direct flights between the two countries following Canada's removal of restrictions.

On Sunday, HU7975 departed from Beijing Capital International Airport at 2:20 pm and will arrive in Toronto at 2:10 pm local time, according to a press release Hainan Airlines sent to the Global Times. The airline plans to operate one round-trip flight on the route each week.

Air China, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines will also expand and resume direct flights between China and Canada, China Central Television reported on Sunday.

Direct flights will connect four Chinese cities - Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen and Guangzhou in South China's Guangdong Province - with the Canadian cities of Toronto and Vancouver, according to the report.

Starting on Sunday, Air Canada began to operate seven weekly round-trip flights between Vancouver and Shanghai, it said.

In late October, the Canadian Transportation Agency announced the removal of restrictions on Chinese mainland airlines, as stated in an official announcement posted on its website.

Initially imposed on February 3, 2022, these restrictions capped the Chinese mainland's airlines at six weekly round-trip scheduled passenger flights to Canada and halted direct flights from Beijing to Canada.

"The increase and resumption of direct flights between the two countries will give a boost to people-to-people exchanges while meeting their economic and trade demand," Huo Jianguo, a vice chairman of the China Society for World Trade Organization Studies in Beijing, told the Global Times on Sunday.

In the first 10 months of the year, bilateral trade grew by 5.5 percent year-on-year to reach 535 billion yuan ($74.52 billion), according to the General Administration of Customs.

Huo said that this underscores the resilience of economic and trade relations between the two countries, blasting Canada's unreasonable tariffs on China-made electric vehicles (EVs) and other products.

On October 1, Canada imposed a 100 percent duty on EV imports from China. On the same day, the Canadian government published the finalized list of Chinese steel and aluminum products that were subject to a 25 percent surtax, effective October 22.

"It is unreasonable for Canada to impose additional tariffs on these Chinese products since the volume of EV trade between the two countries is low," Huo said, noting that Canada's continuous crackdown on Chinese firms is not conducive to the resumption of bilateral ties.

He said that Canada should take a pragmatic attitude in its China policy and take the opportunity of resuming direct flights to ease trade tensions with China, and strengthen cooperation with China to bring more benefits to the two peoples.