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China plans to lift travel restrictions, but other governments are wary of latest COVID-19 surge

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The Chinese government has signalled it is ready to begin dropping most COVID-19 travel restrictions, but the rebound in Chinese international flows could be hindered by cautious policies elsewhere.

For several months one of the main questions facing the Asia-Pacific airline industry has been when China would remove its onerous restrictions on international travel. Most predictions were that China would only ease these measures gradually through the course of 2023. However, the government has announced that it will move much faster than that.

Chinese authorities have begun removing most inbound and outbound travel restrictions from 8-Jan-2023. While it is not completely clear how quickly some of these changes will be implemented, the government intends to move towards a full reopening.

But the surge in COVID-19 infections in China means other countries are introducing their own limitations for travellers entering from that market. These comprise pre-departure or arrival testing in some cases, and a few countries are capping frequencies on China flights.

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