China and South Korea have agreed to expand weekly flight rights between the countries for the first time in ​seven years, reports Reuters.

The agreement, reached at bilateral aviation talks held in Seoul on May 27 to 28, will increase passenger flight ​rights by 56 weekly flights to 664 from 608, ​and cargo rights by 14 weekly flights to 68 from ⁠54, South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said.

The ministry ​said the deal would make it easier to add flights on high-demand ​routes such as Incheon to Shanghai and Incheon to Guangzhou, where existing rights had been fully used by both sides. It will also expand routes from South ​Korea’s regional airports, including Busan and Cheongju, to 10 Chinese cities ​such as Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Chongqing and Xian, the ministry said.

Chinese engineers have designed the country’s first tourist submersible equipped to venture as deep as 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) below the ocean surface, reports the South China Morning Post. The move aims to give eventual new momentum to the luxury travel industry.

Engineers at the China Ship Scientific Research Centre in Wuxi plan to build a prototype before the end of the year and enter commercial operation by 2030 for as many as four passengers per trip, says the Post citing state-run media outlets.

Key components including the submersible’s panoramic viewport–one of the hardest parts to design on a deep-sea submersible–have been developed already, China Daily said, quoting research centre director Ye Cong.

Bubble tea producer Mixue is planning to build a theme park at its headquarters in Zhengzhou, the capital of central China’s Henan province, reports the South China Morning Post.

The park will be based on its Snow King mascot, a singing snowman that has become one of Chinese retailing’s most recognisable intellectual properties (IPs), and offer multiple indoor themed experience zones combining retail, performances and interactive attractions.

The world’s largest food-service chain is looking beyond RMB two (29 US cents) ice creams and RMB four drinks to further widen and monetise its empire, amid a broader push by Chinese cities to revive local economies by harnessing culture, tourism and experiential consumption. The three sectors are increasingly being viewed as reliable ways to stabilize growth as traditional drivers such as property and fixed-asset investment lose momentum.

Airline shares plunged on Monday, with Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific down more than 5%, and Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines fell at least 4% after the US and Israel launched weekend strikes on Iran, disrupting travel and sending oil prices surging, reports Reuters.

Global air travel remained in turmoil on Monday as war in Iran forced the closure of key Middle Eastern hubs including Dubai and Doha for a third day, stranding tens of thousands of passengers worldwide and disrupting thousands of flights.

Cathay Pacific said it had cancelled all of its flights to the Middle East, which include passenger services to Dubai and Riyadh, until further notice. Data provider VariFlight said Chinese airlines had so far cancelled 26.5% of flights to and from the Middle East from March 2 to March 8.

China will order up to 120 additional aircraft from European aviation giant Airbus, reports Bloomberg, quoting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz as he travelled to Beijing to deepen ties between the two countries. 

“The Chinese leadership will be ordering a larger number of additional aircraft from Airbus. The total order will include up to 120 additional aircraft,” Merz told reporters after his meeting with Xi, adding that it “demonstrates how worthwhile such trips can be”.

During the trip, Merz also travelled to Hangzhou, a global tech hub, to visit Unitree Robotics, one of China’s leading developers of humanoid robots.