In order to resolutely curb the high risk of overseas COVID-19 epidemic import risks, on March 26, the Civil Aviation Administration issued the “Notice on Continued Reduction of International Passenger Flights during the Epidemic Prevention and Control Period”. The “Notice” requires that, based on the “International Flight Information Release (Phase 5)” released by the Civil Aviation Administration’s official website on March 12, only one route operated by each domestic airline to any country can be retained, and each route The number of routes operated by the route shall not exceed one week per week; only one route operated by each foreign airline to China may be reserved. What are the considerations for the publication of the Notice? What will be the number of international flights and inbound passengers? What are the next considerations for importing CAAC to prevent overseas epidemics? Will it consider organizing charter flights to return overseas Chinese? In this connection, the reporter interviewed the relevant person in charge of the Transportation Department of the Civil Aviation Administration.
Reporter: At this time, the Civil Aviation Administration has made further reductions in international passenger flights, keeping only one division, one country, and one line. What are the considerations?
Answer: In recent days, overseas imported cases have maintained double digits for many consecutive days, which undoubtedly poses severe challenges to the domestic epidemic prevention and control results, the pace of resumption of work and production, and the health of people’s lives. In this situation, the state must take more decisive and effective measures to resolutely curb the high risk of epidemic import risks. To this end, the Civil Aviation Administration of China has comprehensively judged the relationship between all parties and the needs of various groups, and issued the “Notice on Continued Reduction of International Passenger Flights during the Epidemic Prevention and Control Period”, further significantly reducing international passenger flights, and maintaining only the minimum flights on each route. Volume to ensure continuous navigation in navigable countries.
Reporter: After the “Notice” is released, how much will the number of international flights and daily arrivals drop to?
A: According to this measure, the weekly flight volume will drop to about 130 flights. At the same time, in order to prevent too many passengers on board, we also require Chinese and foreign airlines to ensure that the load factor of flights arriving and departing from China cannot exceed 75%. It is estimated that the number of passengers arriving by air every day will drop from the current 25,000 to about 5,000.
Reporter: In the early days, what policies did the Civil Aviation Administration of China adopt to strictly prevent the import of overseas epidemics?
Answer: With the rapid development and change of the global COVID-19 epidemic situation, the pressure on China ’s “foreign defense import and internal defense rebound” is increasing. According to the unified deployment of the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council, the Civil Aviation Administration of the early stage has taken a number of measures to prevent overseas For epidemic input, the first is the release of the third edition of the “Transport Airlines’ Epidemic Prevention and Control Technical Guide”, which conducts temperature tests on high-risk flights before and on board. According to statistics, from March 19th to 25th, domestic airlines refused to board a total of 312 hot passengers. Suspicious 1,182 passengers on board were quarantined in the quarantine area and handed over to the customs department after landing. Notice on Controlling the Number of International Passenger Flights during the Prevention and Control Period, with 1165 flights (corresponding to 13% of the international passenger flights before the outbreak) as the upper limit of flight volume, requiring each airline to reduce the number of flights on each route The third is to use the method of the first entry point to divert all international flights of Beijing Capital International Airport to 12 airports. As of the 25th, there were a total of 40 flights with 11,284 inbound passengers. The retention rate at the first point of entry was 68.2%; Since March 24, the Civil Aviation Administration has suspended the operation of all charter flights outside China.
Reporter: The next step is to strictly prevent the import of overseas epidemics. What other considerations does the Civil Aviation Administration have? Will it organize charter flights to pick up overseas Chinese?
A: We will pay close attention to the changing situation of epidemics abroad and take further measures to tighten the total number of international passenger flights in accordance with the needs of prevention and control.
In addition, from our current implementation of international departure passenger flights to Beijing, we must look at the situation of entering the designated first point of entry. After the first point of entry quarantine, the number of passengers who meet the entry conditions and enter the Beijing on the original flight is insufficient. 30% proves that long-distance travel does have certain risks, so we also hope that passengers will make prudent, thorough and calm decisions based on their own circumstances. It should be emphasized that we will also continue to follow the deployment of the Central Leadership Group for COVID-19 Epidemic Situation and the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council. According to actual needs, for some cities with concentrated needs and flight destinations with receiving capabilities, we will start A major air transport guarantee mechanism for overseas Chinese, operating temporary flights or charter flights.