Air route to quake-hit Jiuzhaigou to resume

An air route between Chengdu and Jiuzhaigou in southwest China's Sichuan Province will resume from Wednesday, after its operation was suspended following a powerful earthquake on Aug. 8.

The Sichuan Airlines flight will make three round trips per week on the route on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the company said in a statement.

It is the first resumed flight to Jiuzhaigou, a popular Chinese tourist destination, after the county was rocked by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake that left 24 dead and hundreds injured earlier this month.

Previously, Sichuan Airlines operated four daily flights on the route. Several other airline companies, including Air China and China Eastern Airlines, also have services to Jiuzhaigou.

Tourism is Jiuzhaigou's primary industry. It received 7.2 million tourists, including 180,000 foreigners, in 2016, with total tourism revenue of 9 billion yuan (1.35 billion U.S. dollars).

The Jiuzhaigou scenic area has stopped accepting tourists since the earthquake as restoration work may take a long time, though most of its famous lakes remain undamaged, according to geologists.