China Southern to Re-Open Thousands of Flights in March

China Southern Air Holding Company (China Southern) is picking up the pace of reopening flights and chartered services to support resumption of production amid the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic.

By March 4, the company had resumed more than 5,100 flights and now plans to re-open a thousand flights each day this month.

China Southern has classified re-opening of the flights according to risk levels of regions. 

For example, flights from Guangzhou of South China's Guangdong province to Chengdu of Sichuan province, Nanchang of Jiangxi province, Xi'an of Shaanxi province, Bijie of Guizhou province as well as Xuzhou and Lianyungang of Jiangsu province are now in service.

Flights from Shenyang of Northeast China's Liaoning province to Shenzhen and Zhuhai of Guangdong, Nanjing of Jiangsu, Chengdu and Shanghai, as well as others from Changsha of Central China's Hunan province to Sanya of Hainan province, Harbin of Heilongjiang province, Xining of Qinghai province and Changchun of Jilin province also re-opened.

In addition, China Southern increased some flights after the beginning of March to support resumption of enterprises' production; they included flights from Guangzhou to Chongqing's Wushan, Xichang in Sichuan, Luoyang of Henan province and Changde in Hunan, flights from Shenzhen to Hanzhong in Shaanxi province, Sichuan's Bijie and Nanchong, flights from Dalian in Liaoning to Beijing and Shanghai as well as others from Shenyang to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

More than 60 percent of domestic flights are now operating normally.

As for international flights, China Southern will continue to observe entry policies in other countries to expand flight resumption and aircraft type adjustment as quickly as possible.

According to the company, the first return flight between Shenzhen and Bangkok of Thailand will re-open on March 13 which will also be the company's first international flight re-opened in Shenzhen after the epidemic outbreak.

The company carried out 2,251 international flights between Feb 1 and March 4.

Chartered flight service is a key air passenger service to support work resumption. China Southern opened its chartered flight service on Feb 26 to offer a green passage to help workers return to work.

The CZ5687 flight, carrying 242 staff workers from nine counties in Kashgar, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, was the company's first chartered flight to use a Boeing 787 wide-body jet for work resumption transport.

The aircraft was also used to transport anti-epidemic articles including forehead thermometers, surgical masks and medical gloves from Changsha to Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang.

By March 4, China Southern has carried out 43 chartered flights dedicated to resumption of production and transported more than 7,200 workers. The routes mainly included those from Luoyang, Chongqing and Libo to Guangzhou as well as from regions in Xinjiang to Changsha and Nanning.

Dozens of domestic air routes to regions in Southeast and East China like Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai are now being planned.

Varieties of measures to prevent and control the epidemic are undertaken in the passenger cabin. 

For example, screening of temperatures, wearing masks and gloves as well as glasses are musts for crews and disposable articles are provided to passengers. Passengers waiting to board are kept at least one meter apart from each other.

In addition, regular aircraft disinfecting after each flight is a strict rule.

What's more, China Southern pays close attention to extreme weathers including snow, frozen rain and low-visibility to guarantee flight safety and efficiency. 

China Southern offers flight service for both anti-epidemic articles and passengers to support epidemic prevention and control as well as resumption of production. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)