International airlines are starting to resume flights to China after a loosening of aviation restrictions. Lufthansa restarted flights to China last week, flying once a week between Frankfurt and Shanghai in the first regular scheduled flights operated by the German carrier since the pandemic began. “The flights between Shanghai and Frankfurt are hopefully only the first of further Lufthansa Group connections in the coming weeks and months between mainland China and our home markets Germany, Austria, and Switzerland,” said Veli Polat, Lufthansa’s Sales Manager for Greater China. United Airlines will resume its route between San Francisco and Shanghai, via Seoul, beginning on July 8, while Delta Air Lines restarted its China flights last week with twice-weekly trips to Shanghai. This was possible after China and the U.S. settled a dispute over aviation travel, even as bilateral relations worsen. In a reciprocal arrangement, two flights per week for each airline will be permitted. Other foreign airlines will be allowed a basic frequency of one flight per week.

“Resuming service to Shanghai from the United States is a significant step in rebuilding our international network,” said Patrick Quayle, United’s Vice President of international network and alliances. Chinese carriers are operating four flights between China and the U.S.: Air China’s Beijing-Los Angeles, China Eastern’s Shanghai-New York, China Southern’s Guangzhou-Los Angeles service and Xiamen Air’s Xiamen-Los Angeles flights. Air France and Air New Zealand have also restored their services to Shanghai. Air France restarted its passenger services between Shanghai and Paris on June 18, with a weekly passenger flight operated with Boeing 777-300 wide-body aircraft. Air New Zealand resumed passenger flights between Auckland and Shanghai.

China introduced the “Five Ones” aviation policy at the end of March in an effort to reduce the number of imported coronavirus cases. Just one weekly passenger flight per route, per airline, was permitted into the country. The policy, combined with suspended flights due to collapsed demand, saw the number of international airlines operating passenger routes into China drop from 123 to 28. At the same time, the number of Chinese airlines still flying fell from 30 to 19, according to data from the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC). In early June, the White House threatened to block flights from Chinese airlines to the U.S. in retaliation for the policy after the U.S. transport department accused China’s aviation authority of failing to grant U.S. carriers such as United Airlines and Delta permission to resume passenger flights to China while Chinese airlines were continuing to operate charter flights.

One day after the White House announcement, the restrictions were loosened to allow one weekly passenger flight from any qualifying international airline, and two per week from U.S. carriers. However, a route “circuit breaker” – based on the number of positive new coronavirus test results from passengers – will still apply. China Southern Airlines’ Dhaka-Guangzhou route was the first to trigger this circuit breaker when 17 passengers from a June 11 flight tested positive for the new coronavirus upon their arrival in Guangzhou. The route has been suspended for four weeks starting from June 22, according to the CAAC, the South China Morning Post reports.

More countries are preparing to open up to foreign visitors, as the number of Covid-19 cases has been declining in some regions. However, industry insiders said it will still be difficult for Chinese to travel abroad in the short term. The European Union is expected to reopen borders on July 1 for travelers from countries where Covid-19 cases are under control. Chinese residents will also be allowed to visit the EU, on the condition Beijing will also allow European citizens to travel to China, Bloomberg reported. But foreigners holding visas or residence permits issued before March 28, 2020 still can’t travel to China and would require new visas which are difficult to obtain, and will only be delivered if the traveler can prove that his presence in China is necessary for diplomatic, economic or humanitarian reasons. However, even if some countries implement an open policy for Chinese tourists, there is a high probability that China will not initiate organized and individual overseas travel, given the risk of overseas epidemics, and the required quarantine time after returning to China, according to Ge Lei, Vice President of the China Tourism Marketing Association, as reported by the Global Times.