China suspends more flights over COVID-19

China has suspended flights by ten airlines after some of their passengers tested positive for COVID-19 on arrival in the country. According to directives issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), this includes the second suspension of China Southern Airlines’s service between Dhaka and Guangzhou. The flight has been grounded for four weeks from November 30, 2020, after it was already suspended for a week on November 2, 2020. The airline’s service from Manila Ninoy Aquino Int’l to Guangzhou was also suspended for a week from November 2. Ethiopian Airlines’ flight from Addis Ababa to Guangzhou will now also be halted for one week from November 9, 2020, while ET684 from Addis Ababa to Shanghai Pudong – already suspended for five weeks since October 26, 2020 – remains grounded for another four weeks from November 30, 2020. According to CAAC policies, flights are stopped for a week if five passengers test positive for COVID-19. The suspension lasts for four weeks if 10 passengers test positive. Airlines are allowed to increase their flights to 2x per week if all arrivals on a flight test negative for three weeks in a row. Five other airlines will see their China-bound flights temporarily suspended from November 9, 2020. These include Air China, whose Moscow Sheremetyevo-Shijiazhuang service has been put on ice for four weeks, while its Minsk National to Hohhot service will be shelved for one week with the frequency reducing from twice weekly to weekly after the resumption. One-week suspensions from November 9, 2020, will also apply to Uzbekistan Airways’ service between Tashkent Islam Karimov and Xi’an Xianyang; and EgyptAir (MS, Cairo Int’l)’s flights between Cairo Int’l and Guangzhou. From November 16, 2020, Cambodia Angkor Air’s flights between Phnom Penh and Guangzhou will be on hold for one week, but its service between Phnom Penh and Zhengzhou will be terminated. Iraqi Airways’ Baghdad-Guangzhou flight and China Eastern Airlines’ Manila-Shanghai service will both be suspended for four weeks from November 16, 2020. The suspension of Turkish Airlines’ flight between Istanbul New and Guangzhou has been extended for another week from November 30, 2020. The CAAC earlier already grounded Emirates’ flight between Dubai Int’l and Guangzhou for one week from November 2, 2020.