Except Wuhan, China's Hubei reopens domestic flights

WUHAN - With a Fuzhou Airlines flight departing Yichang city on Sunday morning, civil aviation service began to resume in central China's Hubei Province after a suspension for the control of the novel coronavirus outbreak in January.

Flight FU6779 with 64 passengers left the Three Gorges Airport in Yichang for Fuzhou, capital of east China's Fujian Province.

According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), except for the Tianhe International Airport in Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei, all passenger and cargo flights on domestic air routes via airports in Hubei were resumed from Sunday.

The province hard hit by the COVID-19 outbreak lifted outbound travel restrictions on highway traffic in all areas except Wuhan on March 25, with all checkpoints at expressway exits, national and provincial-level highways reopened within two days, as the virus outbreak continues to subdue.

Xu Zuoqiang, chairman and general manager of the Three Gorges Airport, said that before the resumption of flights, the airport had carried out a comprehensive disinfection and organized staff training for epidemic control and prevention.

The airport has newly installed thermal imaging equipment for mass body temperature checks on people in the departure and arrival halls. Isolation areas have also been prepared to quarantine people tested with fever.

The CAAC's central and southern regional subsidiary said that on Sunday, airports in Hubei will have a total of 98 departing flights.

Hubei is a central China air traffic hub. All air traffic control units in the central and southern regions have cooperated to fully ensure the safe and orderly resumption of Hubei civil aviation, the CAAC said.