Incheon-Beijing Direct Flight Route Resumes Operation from the 30th

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, the air route to Beijing, the capital of China, will reopen for regular flights coming from Korea.

Air China, a major Chinese state-owned airline, announced through its official WeChat account on the 23rd that it will operate a direct flight (CA124) from Incheon to Beijing every Friday starting from the 30th. The number of direct flights arriving in Beijing will increase to nine per week.

Since the Civil Aviation Administration of China has been restricting flights arriving at Beijing Airport from foreign countries to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the capital, directing them instead to other cities within China, there have been no airlines currently operating direct flights from Korea to Beijing.

Originally, Air China operated the Incheon-Beijing route every Friday, but for a while, flights departing from Incheon landed in Qingdao instead of Beijing. Passengers whose destination was Beijing had to undergo a two-week quarantine in Qingdao before proceeding to Beijing.

Since early last month, the Chinese government has resumed direct regular flights to Beijing for eight countries with significantly stable COVID-19 situations, including Thailand, Cambodia, Pakistan, Greece, Denmark, Austria, Sweden, and Canada.

However, Korea, where the number of new COVID-19 cases was relatively serious at 200 to 300 per day at that time, was excluded from the list.

Going forward, the embassy plans to continuously negotiate for an increase in regular flights and charter operations, including the Seoul-Beijing route.