Beijing Capital Airlines to run flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays
The frequency of the only direct flight between Portugal and China is to increase to four times a week from the current two, a source from Turismo de Portugal confirmed to Lusa today, “at a time when Beijing is trying to boost foreign travel links”, says the State news agency.
The direct flight between the two countries is between Lisbon and Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, one of China’s most prosperous with around 53 million inhabitants, located on the country’s east coast.
The flight, by Beijing Capital Airlines, has been taking place only on Thursdays and Saturdays but as of this week will also operate on Tuesdays and Sundays. Flights will continue to be provided by A330 aircraft.
The route was impacted by preventative measures adopted by China against Covid-19: since 2020, it had been operating only once a week, originally to Xian, in central China.
The Xian authorities suspended the connection with Lisbon on 25 December 2021, at a time when the city was facing an outbreak of Covid-19, and only resumed flights on 12 June 2022.
The airline then opted for Hangzhou airport instead and, in September 2022, increased the frequency of flights to twice a week.
Under China’s “zero Covid” strategy, its borders were all but closed for almost three years, with anyone arriving from abroad having to quarantine for up to 21 days in hotels designated by the government. The number of flights to the country was reduced to 2% of its pre-pandemic level.
Earlier this year, the country removed most preventive measures, but regional data shows that the number of visitors remains far below the 2019 level. China has not published official statistics on tourism at national level since 2021.
Shanghai, one of the country’s main tourist destinations, received around 756,000 foreign visitors in the first half of the year, which is 22% of the number of visits recorded in 2019.
In Beijing, tour guides questioned by Lusa estimated that the number of foreigners visiting the city is also around running at about 20% of 2019 levels.
Experts quoted by media in China said that lengthy visa application procedures and the price of airline tickets are the main reasons why foreign tourism has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels.
More than 385,000 Chinese visited Portugal in 2019, the last year before the pandemic.
Tourists from China spent a total of €224 million in the country, up 20% from 2018, according to data from Portugal’s national tourist board, Turismo de Portugal.
What Lusa’s report does not mention is that China is still struggling with outbreaks of respiratory viruses among children, almost certainly because these were forced, along with the adult population, to ‘social distance’ to such a degree through the pandemic years that they were unable to build up the usual natural immunities.
Source material: LUSA
