Chinese civil aviation authorities are planning a further liberalisation of the country's air transport sector to enable more locally registered airlines to operate international services.
Government sources say improvements to the regulatory regime to speed up application and approval processes for international services will be put in place soon as part of the liberalisation measures.
"Restrictions on market access for domestic carriers will be eased," says one government source.
"It will be a major step forward in deregulation. For example, on the international services, for Chinese airlines there will be an establishment of a better mechanism for international air traffic rights. International air traffic rights will no longer be monopolised by the major airline groups."
China has been progressively opening up its skies to foreign airlines in recent years.
Source: Flight International
