China has ramped up flight cancellations under its zero-COVID strategy, wreaking further havoc on an airline
industry already smarting from the pandemic. 2021 saw a total of 603 flights grounded under these measures.
In the new year alone, 198 flights were suspended through Jan. 13, reaching almost a third of last year's
numbers in just two weeks. Han Guangzu, Director General of the flight standards department at the Civil
Aviation Administration of China, told reporters in January 15, "We're determined to prevent an influx from
overseas as well as a domestic rebound" in the number of cases. The uptick in circuit breakers comes in
response to the spread of the omicron variant. There had been 408 international arrivals and departures per
week scheduled between late October 2021 and late March 2022. January's circuit breakers led to a quarter
of these being cancelled during the first two weeks of the year. This year, China Southern Airlines was forced
to suspend flights to Toronto, Canada, while China Eastern Airlines put flights to Paris on hold. Flights by
American Airlines and Germany's Lufthansa have been subject to similar restrictions. But Chinese airlines
operating internationally have taken the brunt of the crackdown. Chinese carriers account for 56% of the
international flights planned for about half a year through late March, giving them more exposure to the
circuit breakers. At China's three biggest carriers, international flights, including those to Hong Kong and
Macao, made up less than 1% of their passenger volume -- a big drop from the pre-coronavirus 17%.
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