Tokyo, June 25: Japanese businesses, led by airlines and traders, are racing to resume normal operations in China after the country was declared SARS-safe by the World Health Organisation, a press report said today. All Nippon Airways Co. Ltd. Plans to lift curbs on its flights to and from China and the Japan Airlines System Corp. Group is considering following suit, the leading business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported.
All Nippon will double its Narita-Beijing flights to 14 a week and resume flights between Osaka (Kansai) and Beijing on July 11, the report said.
The carrier had halved the Narita-Beijing flights to seven a week after the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
The Japan Airlines system will consider gradually bringing its services on China routes to normal, the daily said.
JTB Corp. and other Japanese travel agencies plan to resume sales of package tours to China. JTB started selling tours to Beijing today, the report said.
Yesterday trading house Marubeni Corp lifted its ban on business trips to Beijing and Hong Kong, and would no longer make its employees stay at home for 10 days after returning from China, it said.
Toyota Motor Corp. decided yesterday to send back the 16 representatives it had temporarily recalled from Taiwan, the report said. Bureau Report