BJ Travel Choked as Flights Canceled and Ride Sharing Restricted
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The two-week quarantine policy for those traveling to Beijing from elsewhere in China has all but halted travel to the city, but in a combination of voluntary self-containment and city policy, travel from Beijing is hitting the brakes as well.
The coronavirus takes its toll on air travel
Air travel, in particular, has been burned by the coronavirus outbreak, with travel in and out of China’s big cities, including Beijing, falling by an average of 50 percent year-over-year, according to China News Services. A flight from Beijing to Chengdu was recently discounted by as much as 88 percent, landing on a price of just RMB 195.
According to their reporting, flight fares have dipped so low that in some cases airlines are actually losing money on them, but staying in operation will pave the way for the coming recovery period. As of the middle of last week, for example, those eager to travel could score a ticket from Shanghai to Chongqing for a mind-bogglingly low RMB 29, according to SCMP. Even with such low prices, however, many airlines are struggling to keep routes in operation. Around the country, once-bustling airports have seen their traffic cut by 80 percent, and according to data from Flight Radar 24, upwards of 30 percent of flights scheduled to depart from Beijing Capital International Airport are being canceled. (Flights leaving from Beijing Daxing International Airport do not appear to be similarly affected.) All this has left Beijing Capital International Airport with a mere 100 flights departing per day, compared with 900 daily departures in mid-January.
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But while individual choice is the main driver behind slowing air traffic, the city of Beijing is also stepping in to control inter-city traffic on land. Following a widely reported incident in which a freed convict somehow traveled from Wuhan to Beijing one month after Wuhan had been locked down, Beijing responded to fears that individuals might attempt to illegally bypass travel controls through ride-hailing services by restricting ride-sharing services from entering and exiting the city. The move comes more than one month after Didi Chuxing implemented a similar policy. There is currently no word on when inter-city travel via ride-sharing apps will again be permitted.
If you are hoping to leave Beijing, then, your best bet is to look for a dirt-cheap air ticket and pray it flies as scheduled. Then again, there's no guarantee you will be allowed back in.READ: Second Aeroflot Flight Quarantined Upon Arrival in Beijing
Image: Mark Schiefelbein via AP
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