8th April 2020, Wuhan Tianhe International Airport (WUH/ZHHH) resumed domestic passenger flight services.
As the start point of the COVID-19 breakout, Wuhan airport was closed from 23rd January. Only repatriation flights, cargo flights and medical support flights were allowed during this 76 days closure.
As the COVID-19 confirmed cases in Wuhan has dropped to only 320, the government has decided to reopen the city, including the airport, to allow people to get back home.
First Day Re-Operation
On 8th April, Wuhan Airport had a total of 221 flights; this includes 107 departures and 114 arrivals. These flights carried a total of 11,714 passengers, including 7,119 departures and 4,595 arrivals.
Top 3 airlines with the most flights are China Southern, China Eastern and Xiamen Airlines. They summed up to 52.9%.
The top 3 destinations with the most flights are Chengdu, Haiko and Shenzhen, which summed up to 20.6%.
The top 3 origins with the most flights are Guangzhou, Chengdu and Haiko, which summed up to 22.8%.
The first arrival flight of the day was Xiamen Airlines‘ MF8095 from Hangzhou, which arrived at 07:18. The first departure flight was China Eastern‘s MU2527 going to Sanya, which departed at 07:24.
Xiamen Airlines prepared many special activities on this flight. A double water salute was also arranged by the airport.
Wuhan Airport currently serves more than 50 domestic destinations in China, Beijing is not on this list.
More than 100 shops in the terminal have now reopened for passengers.
Special Cargo Flights
Wuhan is a large manufacturing city for medical equipment. With the airport reopening, these products can be directly exported from Wuhan to save time.
On the first day of reopening, two special cargo flights operated by the HNA Group flew to Sydney, Australia.
The first one was operated by Suparna Airlines’ all-cargo Boeing 747-400F. Flight Y87447 carried 70 tons (500 cubic meters) of face masks, protection suits and goggles.
The second one was operated by Tianjin Airlines’ Airbus A330-300. This aircraft was a passenger aircraft but has now been converted to a cargo one. It carried 20 tons of medical supplies to Melbourne.
Featured Image: China Pictorial/Shao Ziyang