Photo/Illutration An employee of All Nippon Airways Co. welcomes a passenger for its flight to Shanghai at a boarding gate at Kansai Airport in Osaka Prefecture on June 5. (Akihiro Tanaka)

All Nippon Airways Co. (ANA) resumed on June 5 its first international flight out of Kansai Airport in Osaka Prefecture since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

The company initially will operate three return flights a week to and from Shanghai from the airport after suspending the operations three years ago.

“Today marks our first step to resuming international flights,” said Junko Miyasaka, manager of ANA’s Kansai Airport branch. “We would like many people to use our flights, and we hope to have more international flights heading toward the summer international travel season.”

Before the pandemic, the company operated 42 return flights a week from Kansai Airport to cities across China.

This month, the number of international flights leaving from, or arriving at, Kansai Airport has returned to more than 50 percent of the pre-COVID level.

However, only 20 percent of flights to China from Kansai Airport have resumed.

Before the pandemic, flights to China accounted for 40 percent of the international flights at Kansai Airport.

Takashi Masuda, a 60-year-old company director living in Ikaruga in Nara Prefecture, used to fly to Shanghai every week before the pandemic.

“I will travel to Shanghai more for my work from now on,” he said. “I’m grateful the regular flight has resumed.”

He said he would take Chinese customers of his company to its Chinese office.

On July 1, Juneyao Air, a Chinese airliner, will start flying from Kansai Airport to Beijing Daxing International Airport, which opened in 2019.