More than 1,900 flights from China to Japan scheduled for this month have now been cancelled, according to state media reports and travel experts, as a political dispute between the two nations over Taiwan grinds on.
The figure represented more than 40 per cent of the flights from mainland China to Japan scheduled for December, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on Monday, citing data from online platforms.
Li Hanming, an independent air travel analyst, said his research indicated that CCTV’s report was broadly accurate, adding that cancellations of flights to Japan also effectively stopped return flights, as airlines tended to schedule routes in pairs.
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Tensions between Beijing and Tokyo escalated last month after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested Japan could deploy military forces in the event of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait.
Beijing issued a travel warning on November 14 urging Chinese citizens to avoid visiting Japan, citing safety issues, and several Chinese airlines offered customers refunds on Japan-bound flight bookings until the end of the year.
Hundreds of thousands of Chinese travellers have since cancelled their planned trips to Japan, leading airlines to scrap a growing number of scheduled flights. China’s consumers are also reportedly becoming warier about investing or studying abroad in Japan.