China to charter flights to return overseas citizens

China plans to charter five flights this week to bring back about 900 Chinese citizens in countries hit hard by the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to the country's civil aviation regulator on Monday.

Han Guangzu, deputy chief of the flight standard department of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said the administration will arrange five temporary flights this week to the United States, United Kingdom, Italy and Spain to return Chinese citizens, most of whom are students.

The aviation authority sent four temporary flights last week to carry 854 Chinese back from the US, UK and Italy, including 711 students, he said at a daily briefing.

Though rolling out orders slashing international flights to curb the surging number of imported cases since March 29, the administration activated major air transportation guarantee mechanisms to arrange extra flights and organize charter flights to bring Chinese studying or living abroad back home, he added.

The country handled only 417 inbound flights by the end of Tuesday, carrying a total of 82,640 passengers, he said, adding that with the exception of 38 inbound flights on March 29, China saw no more than 20 inbound flights on a daily basis, and average daily inbound passengers stood at about 3,000.