Air travel emerges from turbulence of pandemic(3)

Taking flight

China's air travel market has witnessed a strong recovery after the pandemic. In the first half of this year, China transported 350 million passengers by air domestically, growing 24 percent year-on-year. The figure was 9 percent above the pre-pandemic level in 2019, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

The growth indicates that the country's air travel market has completely emerged from the shadow of the pandemic, and the sector is steadily returning to its natural growth level, the CAAC said.

Meanwhile, the number of international and regional air passengers in the first half of this year rebounded to 79 percent of the 2019 level. Travel demand between China and Europe, Japan, South Korea and Singapore, in particular, has been strong, the CAAC said.

"This summer, popular international passenger routes continue to concentrate on traditional tourism markets such as Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asian countries," said Xu Qing, a CAAC official.

"Driven by major events such as the Paris Olympic Games, there has been a significant increase in the number of flights from China to France. Besides, airlines have added more flights to countries such as Denmark, Hungary and Greece," Xu said.

The CAAC said it will support Chinese and foreign airlines increase their capacity on international passenger routes, further boost the number of flights based on market conditions, and better meet the travel demand of passengers.

With multiple countries introducing favorable visa policies for Chinese travelers, along with China's visa-free policy for some foreign countries, China has seen a significant growth in the number of inbound and outbound passengers.

In the first six months of this year, 14.64 million foreign travelers visited China through various ports across the country, with the number surging 152.7 percent year-on-year, according to the National Immigration Administration.

Among those, 8.54 million foreigners visited the country through visa-free entry, accounting for 52 percent of total entries. The administration projected that foreign travelers' enthusiasm for visiting China will keep growing in the second half of the year.

The air travel market in China has entered its summer peak season, and domestic airports are expected to handle 1.08 million takeoffs and landings, with the average number of daily flights 17,361, an increase of 13.87 percent compared with the 2019 pre-pandemic level, according to statistics compiled by Civil Aviation Data Analysis.

Chinese travelers have also shown greater interest in traveling abroad. In the first half of this year, China-Singapore round-trip flights accounted for 3.7 million passengers at Singapore's Changi Airport, or about 11 percent of the total passenger volume. The numbers exceeded, or approached, the pre-pandemic level seen in 2019 for five consecutive months, the airport said.

The numbers of passengers from Shanghai, Xiamen, Fujian province, and Kunming, Yunnan province, have been growing the fastest. The 30-day visa-free entry between China and Singapore, as well as the increase in flight capacities, has driven the passenger volumes between the two countries, the airport said.

The International Air Transport Association recently released global data for June. Total demand, measured in revenue passenger kilometers, was up 9.1 percent compared with June 2023. Total capacity, measured in available seat kilometers, was up 8.5 percent year-on-year, and the passenger load factor was 85 percent in June.

"Demand grew across all regions as the peak northern summer travel season began in June. And with overall capacity growth lagging demand, we saw a very strong average load factor of 85 percent achieved in both domestic and international operations," said Willie Walsh, IATA's director general.

"Operating with such high load factors is both good and challenging. It makes it even more important for all the stakeholders to operate with equal levels of efficiency to minimize delays and get travelers to their destinations on schedule," Walsh said.