International flights on way back to pre-pandemic levels

An Air China plane takes off from Beijing Daxing International Airport. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]

China's international civil aviation market bounced back last year, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said on Thursday.

The number of international flights to and from China each week now stands at 4,600, up from less than 500 at the beginning of last year, Song Zhihong, the head of the administration, said at the civil aviation sector's annual conference in Beijing.

The number of direct flights between China and the United States has recovered to 63 a week, and the number of flights between China and Europe has returned to about 60 percent of the level before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of countries with flights to and from China is about 89.2 percent of the total before the pandemic.

China's civil aviation sector handled 62 million passenger trips last year, about 93.9 percent of the volume in 2019.