The Chinese government has absolutely no pleasure in the fact that numerous airlines have been using passenger aircraft as makeshift freighters since the beginning of the corona pandemic. The civil aviation authority plans to ban this practice from next year.

At the beginning of the corona pandemic, numerous airlines, including Austrian Airlines and Condor, for example, transformed planes that were actually used to transport passengers into so-called “preighters” by removing their seats. The demand was high and due to the entry and quarantine regulations of the various countries there was hardly any other way to earn at least a little money.

While Austrian Airlines has meanwhile put the affected aircraft back into passenger service, other providers are still flying with Preighters. That is a thorn in the side of China. Therefore, one wants to prohibit the use of passenger planes as freighters. If the Chinese civil aviation authority were able to do it alone, the ban would take effect immediately.

But even in the People's Republic of China you have to recognize that the many goods that are exported to pretty much the entire world would simply lie where they were without the help of the Preighter. Therefore, a compromise has now been reached that makeshift freighters may still be used during the current winter flight schedule period 2021/22. After that, however, it should be over, unless the government can bring itself to a renewed extension.