Domestic airlines expand overseas services as China extends visa-free transit stays

(Photo/Courtesy of China Southern Airlines)

Domestic airlines are expanding their overseas services as China extends its visa-free policies to more countries, marking the policy a significant boost to both inbound and outbound travels.

China Southern Airlines said on Monday that it plans to launch a Shenyang-Guangzhou-Dubai route from December 28, with one round trip per week on Saturdays.

Earlier, the airline increased the frequency of flights to Southeast Asian destinations, including doubling the number of round trips between Guangzhou to Phuket to 14 per week starting December 13 and doubling the Guangzhou-Sabah route to 14 round trips a week from December 18.

To Australia and New Zealand, China Southern resumed its Guangzhou-Adelaide route on December 11, with three round trips a week, and flights on the Guangzhou-Auckland route have been doubled to 14 round trips per week.

A flight from Beijing Daxing International Airport to Sydney started on December 13, with four round trips a week, and Beijing Daxing to Melbourne, with three round-trip flights a week, the carrier said.

Shanghai-based Juneyao Airlines also started services from Shanghai to Melbourne on December 20, ahead of the coming travel peak. It plans an initial three flights a week, increasing to daily flights in January to meet the growing demand, the company told the Global Times.

Zhao Hongliang, a vice Chairman of Juneyao Airlines, said the new route will boost people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, and a recent extended visa-free stay for eligible transit passengers to 240 hours will further inject vitality into Shanghai.

Ten new international passenger routes were announced to open and three international passenger routes resumed from December 16 to 22, according to data shared with the Global Times via VariFlight on Monday.

The industry data provider said that the numbers of domestic airlines' international and regional flights have returned to about 90 percent of 2019, accounting for 65 percent of total fights from home and abroad in China. recovery level of the international market has exceeded 90 percent for five consecutive months since July 2024, data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China showed. As of December 15, passenger volume on international routes exceeded 60 million, a year-on-year increase of 130 percent, returning to approximately 88 percent of the same period in 2019.

Chinese experts attributed the rising number of flights and routes to the soaring demand, as Chinese government is taking concrete measures to attract foreign travelers.

The latest flight expansion comes as China announced on December 17 a significant relaxation of its visa-free transit policy, extending the permitted stay for eligible foreign travelers from the original 72 and 144 hours to 240 hours, or 10 days, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Effective immediately, 21 additional ports have been designated for visa-free entry and exit, and the areas in which transit travelers can travel have expanded, according to a statement from the National Immigration Administration.

China recorded nearly 29.22 million inbound foreign visits between January and November 2024, up 86.2 percent year-on-year. Of these, 17.45 million entered the country visa-free, marking a significant 123.3 percent year-on-year growth.