Mainland and Hong Kong authorities have signed a new round of air service agreements under which they will gradually remove restrictions for passenger and cargo transport, state media reported.
The number of airlines operating between the two jurisdictions will be increased from next summer, the report said. Hong Kong officials will unveil details of the arrangement at a press conference today.
'The level of passenger and cargo traffic will be increased,' mainland newspaper Ta Kung Pao quoted a General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) official as saying.
Under a memorandum of understanding signed between the CAAC and Hong Kong, cargo flights from Beijing and Shanghai to Hong Kong will increase by 14 flights a week starting from summer and autumn next year, while other places of origin will have no restrictions.
For passenger flights, restrictions on the number of flights from the seven busiest mainland cities - Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Kunming, Dalian and Chengdu - to Hong Kong will be relaxed gradually starting from next summer.
Limits on flights from 49 other mainland cities will be removed completely.