Flight TWB615 arrives at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport on Sept 16, marking the first regular international passenger air route to resume in Hubei province since the COVID-19 outbreak. [Photo/Changjiang Daily]
The city of Wuhan in Central China's Hubei province saw the landing of its first international passenger flight on Sept 16 after 237 days of suspension due to the COVID-19 epidemic, according to local media reports.
Departing from Seoul, South Korea, the flight TWB615, operated by T'way Air on a B737-800 aircraft, landed at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport at 10:30, marking the resumption of the regular passenger air route between Seoul and Wuhan.
The 60 passengers on the flight were transferred to designated hotels for 14 days of medical observation after completing temperature tests, epidemiological investigations, blood tests, and nucleic acid tests at the airport.
At 14:12, the return flight took off from Wuhan, carrying more than 30 passengers and bound for Seoul.
Wuhan's 63 international and regional routes were completely suspended on Jan 23, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic.
Since Wuhan lifted outbound travel restrictions in April, Wuhan Tianhe International Airport has worked to resume operations.
So far, passenger routes to 73 domestic destinations have resumed, and the daily domestic passenger throughput had recovered to more than 90 percent of the same period last year.
Statistics from the Wuhan transportation bureau showed that, as of the end of 2019, Wuhan Tianhe International Airport had opened 215 regular domestic and foreign passenger routes, which can reach 92 domestic cities, 26 countries and three regions. The number of inbound and outbound flights reached 554 per week. The average number of daily passengers was 74,400, of which 8,510 were international passengers.
