All Nippon Airways Co. and other travel industry firms said Wednesday they are returning to their regular schedule of flights to China now that the World Health Organization and the Foreign Ministry have lifted SARS-related travel warnings for Beijing.
ANA said it will resume regular flights between Japan and China beginning July 11 in response to signs that the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak is being brought under control in China.
ANA halved both the number of daily flights linking Narita airport and Beijing from two on May 8, and the number of weekly runs linking Narita and the city of Dalian to three on June 1.
It also suspended a daily flight between Osaka's Kansai International Airport and Beijing on May 9.
ANA said it will resume using a Boeing 777-200 with 292 seats for a daily flight between Narita and Singapore on July 11, instead of the smaller Boeing 767-300 with 214 seats.
The airline switched to the smaller aircraft April 8 due to weak demand stemming from the March 20 start of the war in Iraq and the subsequent spread of SARS across Asia.
In a related development, Nippon Travel Agency Co. said it will resume package tours to Beijing following the lifting of the WHO's travel advisory.
Travel agency JTB Corp. has already decided to resume package tours to Beijing.
Kinki Nippon Tourist Co. said it may do the same.