A Juneyao Airlines Boeing 787-9 plane in Shenzhen airport's T3 Photo: VCG

Chinese air passenger companies have recently begun launching charter flight services for local governments and enterprises to transport employees back to work amid the novel coronavirus outbreak. Industry analysts say it could help ease airlines' increased pressure due to slashed capacity.

Domestic airlines including China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Juneyao Airlines, Xiamen Air and Shandong Airlines have recently offered charter flight services for enterprises and governments.

At around 5 pm on Sunday, a flight operated by LOONGAIR and chartered by the local government of Jiashan, East China's Zhejiang Province, arrived at Hangzhou International Airport from Southwest China's Sichuan Province, carrying 154 employees returning to companies in Jiashan, according to media reports. 

The employees did not need to pay for their tickets - the Jiashan government undertook two-thirds of the costs and the rest was shouldered by the companies, news site yicai.com said.

China's aviation market has taken a great hit since airlines cut their capacities due to the viral epidemic. 

By Monday, China's passenger airlines had handled more than 38 million trips during this year's Spring Festival travel rush, or "chunyun" in Chinese, down 46.2 percent year-on-year. Many foreign airlines have also suspended flights to China in efforts to contain the coronavirus.

Local Chinese governments and companies urgently need to resume work. Charter flight services, which feature less travel time and good air circulation in cabins, have become the top choice to return employees to work, Lin Zhijie, an independent industry analyst based in Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

The new business model will also help ease the burden for domestic companies that were largely hit by the virus, Lin said, noting that local air firms are the first choices as local governments hope to provide support.

The passenger volume of returning migrant workers is about 300 million, and more than 80 million had returned to work by Saturday, according to the Ministry of Transport. More than 120 million migrant workers will return to their places of work by the end of February, the ministry said.