International Flight Restrictions Expected to Continue Until October

Joey Knotts, Contributing Editor | May 21, 2020 12:12 pm | 10 comments | 28078 reads

Heavy restrictions on international air travel into China will continue until at least October, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) announced Tuesday. The news comes as a blow to many foreigners who are eagerly awaiting the end of China’s visa ban, as it indicates that a return to China could be difficult even if the ban is lifted.

The flight restrictions in question are known as the "Five Ones" – in place since Mar 29 – meaning that each (one) country can only send one flight from one airline via one route once per week.

The necessity to clarify the minimum duration of the Five Ones policy arose as many airlines, forced to protect their precious airport slots, would release their itineraries and allow passengers to book flights just in case the policy was suddenly lifted – some airlines were expecting to restore several routes to China in June.

As a result, many consumers were given false hope of boarding an international flight that was inevitably dashed when the flights were canceled. The CAAC has effectively put a stop to this practice, and are banning airlines from selling tickets before flights resume.

Meanwhile, domestic flights continue to pick up as the average passenger load has now exceeded 60 percent and more than 10,000 routes are flying per day. This speedy recovery has been attributed to the downgrading of Beijing’s risk level as well as the increased flight demand due to the reopening of schools and the ongoing Two Sessions.

READ: Avoid These Streets or Face Congestion Hell During the Two Sessions

Image: Jordan Sanchez (via Unsplash)

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Re: International Flight Restrictions Expected to Continue...
Posted May 24, 2020 8:52am by Sikaote
(Reply to a previous comment)
Giovanni Martini wrote:
xz576 wrote:
saysthis wrote:

Those pointing out the entitlement of others...

You've made your point well, but keep in mind that of the two people with whom you're having this discussion, one believed that an April Fool's article featuring "Todd Chaddington" was real, and the other cannot figure out how to scan a QR code and enter the subway. It's not worth your time to try getting anything through their thick skulls.

I beg your pardon. Todd Chaddington taught me to scan QR codes

I beg your pardon. Todd Chaddington taught me to scan QR codes

Biggrin

Re: International Flight Restrictions Expected to Continue...
Posted May 24, 2020 8:51am by Sikaote
(Reply to a previous comment)
xz576 wrote:
saysthis wrote:

Those pointing out the entitlement of others...

You've made your point well, but keep in mind that of the two people with whom you're having this discussion, one believed that an April Fool's article featuring "Todd Chaddington" was real, and the other cannot figure out how to scan a QR code and enter the subway. It's not worth your time to try getting anything through their thick skulls.

What are you rambling on about now?

Lol

Re: International Flight Restrictions Expected to Continue...
Posted May 23, 2020 8:34pm by saysthis
(Reply to a previous comment)

Oh Tol-stopit. My favorite is the author of Zabibah and the King, who unfortunately remains anonymous, and for which the authorship has never been discovered. It reminds me of another book on Thought that another popularly selected and bearishly revolutionary national leader never forced the population of his country to read in elementary school as well as all the other schools... Although I just can't think of who.

quote=Giovanni Martini]

saysthis wrote:

Those pointing out the entitlement of others are usually commenting from a position of undue comfort they think they've earned. "If you were as well-off/moral/able to endure hardship/unperturbed as me, you wouldn't be saying that, so here I am to point it out, you schmuck. Point point."

Before anything, let me detail the COVID response measures taken by Indonesia and neighboring polities such as Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea.

1) Borders closed to all those without residency, for which residency in all cases includes citizens, spouses of citizens, and the employed, and which in many cases includes students, with quarantine either at home, your hotel, or at government facilities, the latter being either for free or, at a maximum, $200HKD/night in Hong Kong's case, as a means to prevent abuse by the homeless HK-born commuters streaming back from Shenzhen who lost their HK jobs (which itself was barbaric, but which nevertheless was open to all who made it across the border; before that cost was imposed, it was free, but can't have that in capitalism now can we).

2) Either no flights period, or as many flights as the companies can run provided their staff and passengers provide negative test results and follow social distancing, or just plain ol' no new visas (Vietnam).

3) INDEFINITE STAY PERMITS - To avoid crowds, every country I've listed, in fact most on the planet, are doing some variety of "if you were here before [date], you can stay until we lift the state of emergency, it's bad out there, stay tf home, we won't punish you for trying to stay alive".

4) Food aid and shelter to anyone who can demonstrate poverty - It's true, you might not LIKE the tent and meager rations you'll get, but they'll feed you and make sure you don't die. The Russians they found living in a cave + hotels they ordered to stay open to house and feed non-citizens in Thailand are a good example.

---------------

The ticket prices are insane. Even during March, there were people ready and willing to go back, pay for their own quarantine at government facilities, and get on with their lives. That, a policy deliberately designed to generate profit for hotels and government-contracted catering companies, was outrage enough, yet people were willing to do it, because their lives were in the balance. It was replaced with the "Five Ones" policy, which:

1) Denies all non-citizens entry - Have a valid visa? Nope. Have a job? Nope. Have a family? Nope. Is all your stuff here and are you stuck abroad? Then stay out, you disease vector. We're not xenophobic, we're just trying to protect our people, especially from the married, parents, and employed.

2) Squeezes off entry to all but the wealthy enough to afford a ticket - There are tens and hundreds of thousands of PRC citizens stuck abroad. One flight per country per week ensures the poor, meaning most likely to be infected, can't afford the exorbitant ticket costs. One flight a week per country is nothing at all like a mob protection racket. Zero new cases today. They just keep winning against the pandemic! How do they do it!

3) Offers no automatic visa extension beyond the 60-day lockdown grace period - There are still flights, so obviously you can leave when your visa expires, unless extend your visa through your employer which is fully legal and did all the paperwork, which every employer and freelancer in China always has done, thanks to the PRC's easy-to-navigate, affordable, and stable visa laws that are not at all opaque, subject to overnight change, enforced by incompetent staff, or tainted by corrupt officials. That has never happened. Just buy a ticket. Do it. Call your parents, take out a loan, borrow from friends, but GTFO. YOU GO IN THE VIRUS. THAT'S WHERE YOU GO. Go spread it in YOUR country, where you'll be a virus-ridden pariah for coming from China, probably because you came from all those airports, where there is a good chance you'll catch it. Also, if you're African in Guangzhou, let's totally evict you and test you at your own expense multiple times despite you not leaving the country since last year, because that's how viruses work. Science.

4) Even for those able to return, mandatory 14-day quarantine at $50-120/night, at government-designated hotels. Free if you're a PRC citizen. That's just how much it costs to subsidize government-owned hotels, which is a rational use of your taxes, because the hotels are owned by the government, and not overseen by officials that unduly benefit from the same.

So, a bunch of cool and good policies, which are both cool, and good.

In conclusion, I've changed my mind. You and the facts have convinced me. Anyone outraged at the PRC's policies during this special period is definitely a fat, privileged expat who should go home and cry. 35,000 RMB for a ticket is downright generosity, and everyone who isn't grateful needs to shut up. THEY BETTER SHUT UP AND BE GRATEFUL AND FOLLOW THE $4,000 RULES, or "we will make you pay the price", like the nice cross-eyed Douyin lady says.

Sincerely,

Someone poolside in Bali, which is essentially lock-down and virus free

Sikaote wrote:
Giovanni Martini wrote:
givionte wrote:

So they expect everyone to afford $3500 fares to fly? These restrictions are ridiclous, and screwing expats already in China trying to get out, and overseas Chinese trying to return home. It's almost impossible to fly in or out of China right now, unless you are willing to give up 35,000 rmb for a single ticket.

Dern, I plumb forgot. Inconvenienced expat=gross violation of human rights.

Inconvenienced expat=gross violation of human rights.

#notallexpats

Lol

I bet your favorite author is Tolstoi, right?

[/quote]

Re: International Flight Restrictions Expected to Continue...
Posted May 23, 2020 8:23pm by saysthis
(Reply to a previous comment)

Noted, but it's worth putting it there for posterity, in case anyone else thinks privileged millenial expats are griping without justification.

They are. There is no justification to complain about anything that China has done in a public forum, especially not by these privileged millenials who think 35,000 RMB is too much for a ticket home. There is nothing at all wrong with the policies as implemented. I'm not being sarcastic, I'm being supportive, of China, a country I love, and which I will defend to the death for free both here and on Youtube and anywhere else, for not a minimum retainer of 50,000 RMB/month + 2,000/post and 15,000/video, after tax, which my agent did not tell me to say.

Foreign Ministry, don't call me.

xz576 wrote:
saysthis wrote:

Those pointing out the entitlement of others...

You've made your point well, but keep in mind that of the two people with whom you're having this discussion, one believed that an April Fool's article featuring "Todd Chaddington" was real, and the other cannot figure out how to scan a QR code and enter the subway. It's not worth your time to try getting anything through their thick skulls.

Re: International Flight Restrictions Expected to Continue...
Posted May 23, 2020 7:59pm by xz576
(Reply to a previous comment)
saysthis wrote:

Those pointing out the entitlement of others...

You've made your point well, but keep in mind that of the two people with whom you're having this discussion, one believed that an April Fool's article featuring "Todd Chaddington" was real, and the other cannot figure out how to scan a QR code and enter the subway. It's not worth your time to try getting anything through their thick skulls.

Re: International Flight Restrictions Expected to Continue...
Posted May 23, 2020 6:25pm by saysthis
(Reply to a previous comment)

Those pointing out the entitlement of others are usually commenting from a position of undue comfort they think they've earned. "If you were as well-off/moral/able to endure hardship/unperturbed as me, you wouldn't be saying that, so here I am to point it out, you schmuck. Point point."

Before anything, let me detail the COVID response measures taken by Indonesia and neighboring polities such as Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea.

1) Borders closed to all those without residency, for which residency in all cases includes citizens, spouses of citizens, and the employed, and which in many cases includes students, with quarantine either at home, your hotel, or at government facilities, the latter being either for free or, at a maximum, $200HKD/night in Hong Kong's case, as a means to prevent abuse by the homeless HK-born commuters streaming back from Shenzhen who lost their HK jobs (which itself was barbaric, but which nevertheless was open to all who made it across the border; before that cost was imposed, it was free, but can't have that in capitalism now can we).

2) Either no flights period, or as many flights as the companies can run provided their staff and passengers provide negative test results and follow social distancing, or just plain ol' no new visas (Vietnam).

3) INDEFINITE STAY PERMITS - To avoid crowds, every country I've listed, in fact most on the planet, are doing some variety of "if you were here before [date], you can stay until we lift the state of emergency, it's bad out there, stay tf home, we won't punish you for trying to stay alive".

4) Food aid and shelter to anyone who can demonstrate poverty - It's true, you might not LIKE the tent and meager rations you'll get, but they'll feed you and make sure you don't die. The Russians they found living in a cave + hotels they ordered to stay open to house and feed non-citizens in Thailand are a good example.

---------------

The ticket prices are insane. Even during March, there were people ready and willing to go back, pay for their own quarantine at government facilities, and get on with their lives. That, a policy deliberately designed to generate profit for hotels and government-contracted catering companies, was outrage enough, yet people were willing to do it, because their lives were in the balance. It was replaced with the "Five Ones" policy, which:

1) Denies all non-citizens entry - Have a valid visa? Nope. Have a job? Nope. Have a family? Nope. Is all your stuff here and are you stuck abroad? Then stay out, you disease vector. We're not xenophobic, we're just trying to protect our people, especially from the married, parents, and employed.

2) Squeezes off entry to all but the wealthy enough to afford a ticket - There are tens and hundreds of thousands of PRC citizens stuck abroad. One flight per country per week ensures the poor, meaning most likely to be infected, can't afford the exorbitant ticket costs. One flight a week per country is nothing at all like a mob protection racket. Zero new cases today. They just keep winning against the pandemic! How do they do it!

3) Offers no automatic visa extension beyond the 60-day lockdown grace period - There are still flights, so obviously you can leave when your visa expires, unless extend your visa through your employer which is fully legal and did all the paperwork, which every employer and freelancer in China always has done, thanks to the PRC's easy-to-navigate, affordable, and stable visa laws that are not at all opaque, subject to overnight change, enforced by incompetent staff, or tainted by corrupt officials. That has never happened. Just buy a ticket. Do it. Call your parents, take out a loan, borrow from friends, but GTFO. YOU GO IN THE VIRUS. THAT'S WHERE YOU GO. Go spread it in YOUR country, where you'll be a virus-ridden pariah for coming from China, probably because you came from all those airports, where there is a good chance you'll catch it. Also, if you're African in Guangzhou, let's totally evict you and test you at your own expense multiple times despite you not leaving the country since last year, because that's how viruses work. Science.

4) Even for those able to return, mandatory 14-day quarantine at $50-120/night, at government-designated hotels. Free if you're a PRC citizen. That's just how much it costs to subsidize government-owned hotels, which is a rational use of your taxes, because the hotels are owned by the government, and not overseen by officials that unduly benefit from the same.

So, a bunch of cool and good policies, which are both cool, and good.

In conclusion, I've changed my mind. You and the facts have convinced me. Anyone outraged at the PRC's policies during this special period is definitely a fat, privileged expat who should go home and cry. 35,000 RMB for a ticket is downright generosity, and everyone who isn't grateful needs to shut up. THEY BETTER SHUT UP AND BE GRATEFUL AND FOLLOW THE $4,000 RULES, or "we will make you pay the price", like the nice cross-eyed Douyin lady says.

Sincerely,

Someone poolside in Bali, which is essentially lock-down and virus free

Sikaote wrote:
Giovanni Martini wrote:
givionte wrote:

So they expect everyone to afford $3500 fares to fly? These restrictions are ridiclous, and screwing expats already in China trying to get out, and overseas Chinese trying to return home. It's almost impossible to fly in or out of China right now, unless you are willing to give up 35,000 rmb for a single ticket.

Dern, I plumb forgot. Inconvenienced expat=gross violation of human rights.

Inconvenienced expat=gross violation of human rights.

#notallexpats

Lol

Re: International Flight Restrictions Expected to Continue...
Posted May 22, 2020 5:53am by Sikaote
(Reply to a previous comment)
Giovanni Martini wrote:
givionte wrote:

So they expect everyone to afford $3500 fares to fly? These restrictions are ridiclous, and screwing expats already in China trying to get out, and overseas Chinese trying to return home. It's almost impossible to fly in or out of China right now, unless you are willing to give up 35,000 rmb for a single ticket.

Dern, I plumb forgot. Inconvenienced expat=gross violation of human rights.

Inconvenienced expat=gross violation of human rights.

#notallexpats

Lol

Re: International Flight Restrictions Expected to Continue...
Posted May 22, 2020 5:51am by Sikaote
(Reply to a previous comment)
givionte wrote:

So they expect everyone to afford $3500 fares to fly? These restrictions are ridiclous, and screwing expats already in China trying to get out, and overseas Chinese trying to return home. It's almost impossible to fly in or out of China right now, unless you are willing to give up 35,000 rmb for a single ticket.

These restrictions are ridiclous, and screwing expats already in China trying to get out

Imma guess you're a millenial. Amirite??

Cray 2

Re: International Flight Restrictions Expected to Continue...
Posted May 22, 2020 5:47am by Sikaote

The flight restrictions in question are known as the "Five Ones," meaning that each country can only send one airline to and from China via one route, once per week.

I counted three 1s. What am I missing???

Pardon

Re: International Flight Restrictions Expected to Continue...
Posted May 21, 2020 12:48pm by givionte

So they expect everyone to afford $3500 fares to fly? These restrictions are ridiclous, and screwing expats already in China trying to get out, and overseas Chinese trying to return home. It's almost impossible to fly in or out of China right now, unless you are willing to give up 35,000 rmb for a single ticket.