Foreign and Military Affairs

More flights to be sent to evacuate nationals from Egypt

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-02-01 14:51

BEIJING - The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the nation's aviation authority, said Tuesday it is doing its best to organize flights to Egypt to bring home Chinese travelers stranded in the North African nation.

China has arranged six flights to fly the stranded Chinese nationals home, CAAC said in a statement on its website.

"We will do our best and if necessary send more flights to Egypt to bring stranded Chinese home for the Chinese Lunar New Year," the statement quoted CAAC director Li Jiaxiang as saying.

Two planes with more than 480 Chinese nationals aboard took off from Cairo airport early Tuesday. They will arrive in Beijing and Guangzhou respectively Tuesday afternoon.

Early Tuesday morning, two Air China planes left for Egypt to bring Chinese home.

Two more planes - one belonging to China Southern Airlines and the other to Hainan Airlines - will leave for Egypt Tuesday afternoon.

The Southern Airlines flight will bring back about 200 Hong Kong residents stranded in Luxor. The Hainan Airlines flight will fly to Cairo to bring Chinese travellers stranded there home.