China further opens up skies in Hainan province to foreign carriers - UPDATE.

(From Xinhua Financial News - China Focus)

(Updating to add open-sky rules issued by Hainan government, analyst comment) BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) - China's aviation authorities have agreed to open up Hainan province further to foreign carriers, allowing them to extend their fifth freedom traffic rights from the southern island province into other mainland cities.

Foreign carriers were granted the so-called fifth freedom traffic rights in Hainan last August, which means they can pick up and drop off passengers in the province's major cities of Haikou and Sanya before flying on to a third country destination.

However, the move, widely seen as the most …