The Chinese-made C919 passenger jet will make its first scheduled international flights in August, reports the South China Morning Post. The move marks a significant milestone for the country’s ambitions to become self-sufficient in aerospace.

The narrowbody aircraft, operated by national carrier Air China, will start flying between Beijing and the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar on August 12, according to state news agency Xinhua. There will be one round-trip flight every day.

The C919 has already been making regular commercial flights to and from Hong Kong, its first non-mainland destination.

Three Chinese airlines will buy a combined 95 Airbus aircraft for ‌a total list price of about $17.8 billion, reports Reuters. This comes as Chinese carriers push to expand capacity and modernise their fleets with more fuel-efficient jets.

Air China and its unit Shenzhen Airlines will buy 55 Airbus aircraft for a ​total list price of $12.4 billion, while Hainan Airlines separately agreed to purchase 40 A320neo-family jets for a ​list price of up to $5.4 billion, according to filings with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The new jets are ​expected to boost ⁠the total capacity by about 7.1% for the Air China group and 4.3% for Shenzhen Airlines, based on the group’s combined passenger and cargo capacity as of December 31, 2025, though some of the aircraft will ⁠replace ​ageing jets being retired.

Accor SA plans to double its Greater China hotel network to 1,600 properties by 2031, reports Caixin. The move sees the group making the region a core growth engine.

Greater China is already one of Accor’s largest development markets. The Paris-based group operates 829 hotels across 17 brands in the region and has another 506 in the pipeline, Greater China Chief Executive Gary Rosen said at a briefing at Shanghai’s Peace Hotel.

The push reflects a broader bet that China will remain central to global travel demand, even as international hotel chains face intense competition from domestic operators. Chief Executive Sébastien Bazin said China and the United States are the two major markets where Accor does not hold a leading position. In China, local groups such as H World Group and Jin Jiang International Holdings dominate the sector.

Trip.com Group, China’s largest online travel agency, says it expects second-quarter revenue growth to be the slowest in more than three years and warns of a “significant fine” from an ongoing antitrust probe by the country’s top market regulator, reports the South China Morning Post.

The company reported on Thursday that first-quarter revenue rose 17% to RMB 16.2 billion ($2.4 billion), but forecast growth of 3-8% in the second quarter, the weakest since late 2022. Profit for the March quarter dropped almost 42% to RMB 2.5 billion, the lowest since late 2024.

“Rising energy prices and recent geopolitical tensions have led to higher airfares, tighter airline capacity, and disruptions on certain international routes, particularly long-haul travel, contributing to a moderation in air travel demand and changes in booking patterns,” chief financial officer Cindy Wang said on an earnings call on Thursday. The company announced in January by the State Administration for Market Regulation, “could directly result in a significant fine, other financial penalties [or] changes to the company’s business practices”, which “may have a material adverse effect on the company’s consolidated financial position, results of operations, or cash flows”.

Japan’s cabinet on June 19 formally approved raising foreign-visitor visa fees to five times their current levels, reports Caixin. The fee for a single-entry visa will rise to 15,000 yen ($93), from 3,000 yen. The fee for a multiple-entry visa will increase to 30,000 yen, from 6,000 yen.

The visa-fee increase mainly affects countries and regions whose citizens must apply for visas in advance, including China, the Philippines, Vietnam and India. 

The fee increase comes as Chinese travel to Japan is falling sharply. The Japan National Tourism Organization estimated on June 17 that foreign visitors to Japan totaled 3.559 million in May, down 3.6% from a year earlier and marking a second consecutive monthly decline. Mainland Chinese visitors numbered 313,000, down 60.4% from a year earlier, the sixth straight monthly drop, amid worsening China-Japan relations.