Sharjah24 - Reuters: Despite concerns about infections following Beijing's removal of COVID-19 limitations last month, people are starting to travel again in China ahead of the Lunar New Year. Since the start of the yearly travel season, air passenger volumes have recovered to 63% of 2019 levels.

The rapid business recovery is challenging airlines' ability to ensure safety, and great attention to pandemic-related risks is needed, said Song Zhiyong, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

The industry needs to "fully understand the special nature, and complexity of the Spring Festival migration in 2023", Song said in a statement on Friday.

Since the Jan. 7 start of the annual migration, as Chinese return to their hometowns in preparation for the holiday set to begin on Jan. 21, flight passenger numbers stand at 63% of the 2019 figure before the pandemic, the aviation regulator said.

China re-opened its borders on Jan. 8 after having abruptly abandoned in December a strict anti-virus regime of frequent testing, travel curbs and mass lockdowns that had fuelled historic nationwide protests in late November.