China may have reopened its borders after putting its COVID-zero policy to bed, but the aviation industry remains hesitant to recommence flights to the country, denting prospects of a swift restart of meaningful travel to and from the region

China’s National Immigration Administration will recommence taking applications from Chinese citizens seeking tourist passports from January 8, a practice that was stopped in early 2020 following the closure of the international border due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Scheduled flights into China over the next three months have increased by less than three per cent since last week, according to aviation data provider Cirium, despite the country announcing on Tuesday it would end quarantine and recommence issuing tourism passports for citizens.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday Australia would not immediately make any changes to the country’s rules around allowing travellers from China into the country, as countries including the US move to impose mandatory COVID-19 tests upon Chinese arrivals.

“There is no change in the travel advice at this point in time, but we are continuing to monitor the situation, as we continue to monitor the impact of COVID here in Australia, as well as around the world,” he said.

China began relaxing COVID restrictions at the beginning of this month, and has seen a surge in coronavirus cases which have overwhelmed the nation’s hospitals. From January, Chinese citizens, work-visa holders and imported cargo will be able to enter China without needing to quarantine, but it’s not yet clear whether the nation’s airports and airlines are ready to cope with the influx.

Qantas- Australia’s largest airline and only local carrier with services to China-said it welcomed news the country was opening its borders but made no commitment as to when it will recommence flying.

“ We will keep customers updated about any plans we have to recommence flights into China,” a Qantas spokesperson said.