China Southern Airlines flight CZ392, which connects Dhaka, Bangladesh, to Guangzhou, China, will be suspended for four weeks from June 22, China's aviation regulator stated on Sunday after 17 passengers on board tested positive for COVID-19 on June 11.

In early June, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said it would allow more foreign carriers to operate flights into the country based on the premise that the risks related to COVID-19 are controllable, stressing that flight incentives and "circuit-breaker" measures will be also implemented from June 8.

Foreign airlines unable to operate routes to China over the past few months can choose one city in the country from which to run international flights once per week starting Monday.

According to the regulation, if an airline reports no positive nucleic acid coronavirus test results among incoming passengers for three consecutive weeks on the same route, the carrier may fly two weekly passenger flights.

For airlines on the same route, if up to five of incoming passengers test positive, their operation on the route would be suspended for a week. If 10 passengers test positive, the operation on the route would be held for four weeks.

Once the "circuit-breaker" period ends, the related airline could resume its normal weekly passenger flights, said the statement, noting that China may "modestly increase" passenger flights from certain eligible countries under the premise of "controllable risks" and "adequate receiving capacities."

Data from the CAAC demonstrated that China's airline industry showed signs of recovery in May as airlines flew a total of 25.83 million passengers last month, down 52.6 percent year on year, but with the decline narrowing 15.9 percentage points from April.

The top aviation authority on Tuesday also rolled out a plan to trial the Seventh Freedom of the Air in Hainan to implement one aspect of a broader master plan publicized on June 1, so as to build the tropical island into a high-caliber free trade port.

The Seventh Freedom allows a carrier to operate flights between two foreign countries without having to land in the airline's home country.

The move conducted by the resort island signifies that some international routes in Hainan are now available for the operation of foreign airlines, thus bringing the number of Hainan's international routes from five in 2003 to 103 in 2020, CAAC data showed.

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(Cover image: An airplane of China Southern Airlines takes off. /VCG)