Chinese carriers flew close to 11% more passengers compared to pre-pandemic 2019, with international traffic moving closer to full recovery.
As of 15 December, Chinese carriers flew more than 700 million passengers – an increase of 10.7% compared to the same period in 2019 and a “new high” for the country’s airline sector.
“Since the start of the year, the civil aviation sector has generally remained stable…[and] maintained a good growth trend. Operational efficiency has [also] continued to improve,” states the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
Data from the CAAC shows Chinese airlines to carry around 640 million domestic passengers, up 13% year on year, and about 14% higher than 2019 levels.
International passenger numbers recovered to around 88% of pre-pandemic levels, CAAC data shows. The agency notes that international traffic has also recovered to around 90% of 2019 levels “consistently” since July.
“[The] CAAC will [continue to] closely monitor changes in the civil aviation market…to ensure safe, stable and orderly operations…[and it will] continue to monitor the industry’s economic operations,” it adds.
The Chinese airline sector’s recovery has been a subject of scrutiny in the post-pandemic years, given that China was the last major economy in the world to drop its pandemic travel restrictions.
