The Seventh Summit of Heads of Government of China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) was held in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia on June 7, 2108, and attendees jointly rolled out and issued the Sofia Guidelines for Cooperation Between China and Central and Eastern European Countries. It was explicitly set out in the Guideline that “continued support will be given to the cooperation in the field of civil aviation, including to the expansion of air connections between China and CEECs. The 1st CEEC-China Civil Aviation Forum will be held in the Czech Republic in 2019.”

China has been attaching great importance to the development of long-term civil aviation relations with CEEC, by encouraging and supporting carriers from both sides to launch more routes and increase flights based on market demand, as well as carry out in-depth commercial cooperation, in order to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. By developing civil aviation ties, cooperation and development in tourism, people to people exchange and other fields are also expected to be enhanced. The two sides have gained remarkable achievements in civil aviation cooperation in recent years through effective implementation of Budapest Guidelines for Cooperation between China and CEEC, which has enhanced the connectivity between China and CEEC and facilitated personnel, economic and trade exchanges between the two sides. By June 2018, China has signed air services agreements with 13 of the 16 CEECs, established air services with Hungary, Czech Republic, Serbia and Poland, with a total of 16 flights per week.

The signing of the Sofia Guidelines for Cooperation Between China and Central and Eastern European Countries is conducive to further enhancing the friendly civil aviation relations between China and CEEC. In recent years, the number of Chinese citizens going to CEEC has increased by more than five folds, two-way international students have doubled, and two-way flow of tourists has exceeded 1 million per year. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the number of air travelers between China and CEEC exceeded 850,000 in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 31.1%, which reflected a trend for rapid increase in air transport. For the next step, China’s civil aviation industry will continue to deepen cooperation with CEEC under the Belt and Road Initiative and within the 16+1 framework, in fields such as air transport, airworthiness certification, general aviation, air traffic management, etc., aiming to jointly build a regional air bridge for people-to-people exchanges.