244 Chinese students from Southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality flew to Manchester in the United Kingdom on Saturday via Hainan Airlines.
This chartered flight by a domestic airline is the first in 2021 that enables students to return to their studies. An Airbus 330-300 is planned to operate until late October, the latest, Erudera.com reports.
According to Hainan Airlines, the municipal government of Chongqing and the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom will help sending more students to the UK by September and October via charter flights. The airline also said that tickets will only be sold to Chinese students who must attend UK education institutions.
According to HESA, China was the top sending country of international students to the UK in 2019/20, followed by India and the United States. In 2019/20, there were 101,855 Chinese students in the UK, 39,360 from India, and 11,255 students from the United States. Meanwhile, according to the Chinese Embassy in the UK, around 216,000 Chinese students are currently studying in the UK.
