Wealthy passengers in China are having to book private jets weeks in advance on sought-after routes as companies struggle to meet surging demand after the country’s exit from zero-Covid.
Beijing’s decision late last year to scrap mandatory quarantine for inbound arrivals and reopen its borders, pivoting away from previous tight curbs on travel, has sparked a scramble to charter aircraft, in an echo of the clamour for private flights seen in other markets during the pandemic.
The number of domestic and international flights made on private jets from mainland China was 32 per cent higher in January compared with last year and 10 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019, according to aviation data firm WingX.