Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines has received approval from the country's aviation authority to resume two routes in Yunnan Province from Sunday, after a half-year suspension due to a mid-air strike by its pilots.

Information on the two routes, from Yunnan's capital Kunming to Dali and Xishuangbanna, is available on China Eastern's online booking system. Seven flights on each route are offered on Sunday, according to the carrier's Website.

Its other six routes in the province, which were hit with flight reductions as punishment for the strike, will also resume normal operation. The resumption was approved after China Eastern improved its operations and contributed to rescue efforts for the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan Province.

The suspension began on May 4, following an earlier incident in which China Eastern flights returned to departure points at Kunming after taking off as pilots protested pay and working conditions.

(Shanghai Daily Ocotber 24, 2008)