Air China restarting flights to South Africa
Air China, the national flag carrier for the People’s Republic of China, is resuming its flights to South Africa. This follows a three-year break in the service, which was caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and China’s especially strict lockdown response to it.
“The Beijing-Shenzhen-Johannesburg flight three times per week is significant because it is back to its pre-Covid schedule after three years,” highlighted Gauteng Economic Development MEC Tasneem Motara. “More importantly, the flights will also restore the economic ties that benefitted from the flights between the two [sic] cities.”
China is one of Gauteng province’s and South Africa’s important markets for trade, investment and tourism. China is the country’s largest single trading partner, taking 9.7% of South African exports. And, in the year before Covid, South Africa had received about 120 000 visitors from China, all of whom had entered the country through Gauteng.
Source: Engineering News