China expects to restore international travel in 2023

China expects to restore international air travel from 2023, reports Flightglobal. A new five-year development plan issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) calls the 2023-2025 timeframe “a period of growth”. The report says key focus areas are to “expand the domestic market, restore the international market”, as well as "improve the level of reopening”. SEE: Geoffrey Thomas discusses groundbreaking MH370 tracking. READ: After Qantas Airbus order Boeing must rethink the 737 MAX.

The plan covers 2021 to 2025, though the CAAC proposes to split it into two tranches: 2021-2022 as a “period of recovery and consolidation”, followed by growth from 2023-2025.

China’s desire for a Zero-Covid strategy has slowed the recovery of aviation in China. International borders are tightly controlled and domestic travel restrictions are quickly imposed when local Covid-19 infections are found. Flightglobal reports that the CAAC also disclosed plans to grow the number of airports in the country. In its five-year plan, the regulator expects to have 270 civil airports by end-2025, compared to 241 at the end of 2020.