At 09:09 AM June 5 local time, a China Eastern Airlines (CEA) "passenger to cargo "flight MU7263 took off from Jinan to Milan fully loaded with over 20 tons of supplies. This is CEA's 22th flight transporting medical equipment directly from China to Italy.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China on Thursday moved to relax international flight restrictions, allowing more foreign carriers to resume flights to China on a once-a-week basis starting from June 8. It means the situation, in which US airlines have zero flights to and from China, could end, and US airlines could enjoy the same rights as airlines from other countries.

On April 17, CAAC issued the revised Rules on Flight Diversion to further standardize support for flight diversion and improve the safety of operations. The Rules greatly optimize the reservation rules on diversion stands at airports and allow dynamic adjustment and reduction of diversion stands. Under the new Rules, the number of reserved stands (Category C and above) at airports nationwide at night can be reduced by up to 353 in the future.

On April 21, CAAC issued the Operation Safety Bulletin on transport of cargo in the passenger cabin (hereinafter referred to as the Bulletin) to assess the risk of transporting cargo in the passenger cabin from the aspects of cargo, ground handling and operation and put forward specific recommended measures. The Bulletin serves to provide guidance for air carriers on the conduct of a full assessment before carrying cargo in the cabin so as to ensure that such operations are conducted in accordance with the laws and regulations at the highest level of safety and in the public interest.

Recently the Guidance of CAAC on Strengthening the Overall Planning of Civil Transport Airports (hereinafter referred to as the Guidance) was officially published. The Guidance specifies that the overall planning of any future civil transport airport shall, in principle, include a short-term (15 years) plan and a long-term (30 years) plan, and shall align with territorial and spatial planning, comprehensive transportation planning, and urbanization development. According to the overall goal, by 2035, the airport overall plan will become important guide for the sustainable development of each airport, and the "four-type airports" will become a universal form, laying a solid foundation for building China into a civil aviation power in 2050.

On April 20, the leading Party Group of CAAC deliberated on and adopted the work program for deepening civil aviation reform in 2020, which includes 22 reform programs. A total of 639 tasks are arranged under these programs, of which 580 are related to specific reform tasks in 2020.

In order to thoroughly implement the important instructions of President Xi Jinping on building a comprehensive transport system, speed up the building of China into a civil aviation power, win the fight against poverty, and give further play to the role of small and medium-sized airports in developing regional economy and improving people's travel conditions, the Ministry of Finance and CAAC jointly issued the Notice on Revising Interim Measures on the Management of Subsidies for Small and Medium-sized Civil Aviation Airports on April 30, in accordance with the relevant regulations on the use and management of the Civil Aviation Development Fund. The revised subsidy measures further increase the support for small and medium-sized airports in the central and western regions, especially those in areas of deep poverty, border areas, areas of ethnic minorities, old revolutionary base areas, remote and backward areas and areas with poor ground transport.

CAAC recently issued the Notice on Further Improving the Management Policies of Cargo Routes and Flights (hereinafter referred to as the Notice), aiming to boost the capacity of China's air cargo and enhance the international competitiveness of China's logistics industry. According to the Notice, approval processes will be reduced and approval efficiency increased, thereby helping airlines to arrange cargo flights more flexibly and efficiently.

On May 15, China's civil aviation sector operated 10,262 flights, which was about 60 per cent of the number before the COVID-19 outbreak. It is the first time that the number of flights in a single day crossed the mark of 10,000 since February 1.

To financial departments (bureaus) of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government and municipalities separately listed in the State Plan, Financial Bureau of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, CAAC Regional Administrations and transport airlines: