{"id":87180,"date":"2017-12-10T08:00:07","date_gmt":"2017-12-10T08:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=2140da6471301bf8bc404a4c7b35a8b6"},"modified":"2017-12-10T08:00:07","modified_gmt":"2017-12-10T08:00:07","slug":"news-story-britain-open-for-business-as-uk-and-china-further-relax-limits-on-flights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=87180","title":{"rendered":"News story: Britain open for business as UK and China further relax limits on flights"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Britain\u2019s regions are set for an economic boost after a landmark agreement for a 50% boost in the number of flights allowed between the UK<\/abbr> and China.<\/p>\n

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling today (10 December 2017) unveiled the deal, which allows for a huge expansion in routes from regional airports \u2013 potentially boosting local economies by hundreds of millions of pounds by opening up new business and tourism opportunities.<\/p>\n

The announcement builds on successful discussions in October 2016<\/a> that saw limits on passenger flights between the 2 countries raised from 40 per week to a maximum of 100.<\/p>\n

The number of Chinese tourists visiting the UK<\/abbr> has rocketed during the first half of this year. Between January and June, 115,000 visits were made from China to the UK<\/abbr>, a rise of 47% on the same period last year. Spending also increased to \u00a3231 million, up 54%.<\/p>\n

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said:<\/p>\n

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These agreements are an important part of preparing Britain for a post-Brexit world and making sure we have access to key markets in the Far East, and they come at a time when our exports are growing and we continue to attract international investment. It just underlines that Britain will do well regardless of the outcome of the Brexit negotiations.<\/p>\n

The whole government is working to secure the best possible future relationship with the EU<\/abbr>, and great progress has been made this week, but no one should believe that Britain\u2019s future success depends on decisions taken in Brussels.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Under the current arrangement, agreed in October 2016, a maximum of 100 passenger flights per week can operate between the UK<\/abbr> and China, with this figure set to increase to 150 under the terms of the new deal.<\/p>\n

Chinese tourists are some of the UK<\/abbr>\u2019s highest spenders, staying longer and travelling more than visitors from other countries.<\/p>\n

Last year, Manchester airport launched the first direct regional flight between the 2 countries, worth an estimated \u00a3250 million in economic benefits to the UK<\/abbr> over the next decade.<\/p>\n

During the same year restrictions were relaxed allowing an unlimited number of cargo flights to operate between the UK<\/abbr> and China. By the end of 2016, more than 74,000 tonnes of freight had been transported between the UK<\/abbr> and China by air, an increase of 27% when compared to 2015.<\/p>\n

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Regions set for economic boost as new deal increases the number of passenger services allowed per week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87180"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=87180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87180\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=87180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=87180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=87180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}