The recovery of civil aviation in China is expected to further accelerate international flights

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, June 16 (Xinhua) -- The recovery of China's civil aviation is expected to further accelerate

Xinhua News Agency reporters Zhou Yuan and Wang Yuhao

At around 11:00 on the 16th, the MU9197 flight, operated by the domestically produced large aircraft C919, landed smoothly at Chengdu Tianfu International Airport. After a brief stay, C919 will carry passengers to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport.

Since its normal commercial operation, the C919 has been operating on air routes between Shanghai and Chengdu. This busyness is a microcosm of the steady acceleration of China's civil aviation recovery.

"At present, the aviation transportation market continues to maintain a stable recovery trend." At the regular press conference of the Civil Aviation Administration of China on the 16th, Li Yong, Deputy Director of the Aviation Safety Office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, introduced that in May, the total transportation turnover of the entire industry was 9.71 billion tons per kilometer, an increase of 4.3% month on month, and recovered to 90% of the same period in 2019. Among them, the scale of domestic passenger transportation increased by 2.6% compared to the same period in 2019.

International and regional flights continue to increase——

On June 7th, China Southern Airlines flight CZ673 took off smoothly from Beijing Daxing International Airport, marking the official opening of China Southern Airlines' direct flight route from Beijing Daxing to London Heathrow.

"Currently, China Southern Airlines operates 123 international and regional flights every day," said Xiao Yong, Secretary of the Marketing Committee of China Southern Airlines. The resumption of flights from Northeast China to Japan and South Korea, as well as from Xinjiang to Central and West Asia, is quite evident.

In May, Beijing Capital Airport and Daxing Airport added or resumed 18 international routes, and Air China encrypted multiple international routes... Data shows that the actual number of international passenger flights executed in China in the past week reached 5822, operating in 61 countries and regions, recovering to about 80% of the same period in 2019.

"Since the beginning of this year, China's international aviation market has shown a sustained recovery trend, but there are significant differences in the recovery of flight volume among different countries and regions." Zhao Nan, Industry Director of Air Travel Service, analyzed that China's flight volume to South Korea and Southeast Asia has led the rise, resulting in a significantly faster recovery speed of routes in the Asia Pacific region compared to intercontinental routes.

With the increase of flights, ticket prices have loosened. The reporter found on multiple flight booking platforms that some domestic direct flights to popular destinations such as Thailand, Japan, and South Korea have been reduced to below 1000 yuan; The previously high prices of some flights on the China US route have also dropped below 10000 yuan.

"The overall global civil aviation ticket prices have basically recovered to the same level as the same period in 2019." Xiao Yong believes that in the short term, there may be a shortage of tickets for some international and regional routes, such as recent US routes, Australian routes, European routes, etc.

The industry's operating conditions have generally improved——

At the beginning of the year, the National Civil Aviation Work Conference proposed to grasp the pace of industry recovery and development this year, and strive to achieve profit and loss balance.

The Chinese civil aviation industry, which has suffered losses for three consecutive years, has rebounded this year. In the first quarter, major listed airlines and airports generally achieved a doubling in revenue compared to the previous quarter, with losses significantly narrowing. Among them, private airlines such as Spring Airlines, Hainan Airlines, and Jixiang Airlines achieved a turnaround from losses to profits.

"After the optimization and adjustment of epidemic prevention policies, we quickly reacted and seized the opportunity of flight recovery." Mao Yi, Minister of the Propaganda Department of Spring and Autumn Airlines, introduced that taking the Thai route as an example, the company laid out Langman International Airport before other airlines. Now, the Thai route has basically recovered to the level of 2019, and domestic routes have also increased by about 40% compared to 2019. The company's net profit attributable to the parent company in the first quarter reached 356 million yuan.

Seizing the positive trend, all parties are making every effort to consolidate the positive trend: during the new airline season, "adding", "going around", and "encryption" have become the high-frequency words in most airline flight plans; Tianjin Airlines and Xiamen Airlines have successively received new aircraft and actively expanded their capacity; The renovation and expansion projects of Kunming Changshui International Airport and Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport are accelerating.

"The current recovery trend in the industry has boosted confidence from all parties." Lin Zhijie, a senior civil aviation practitioner, believes that although there are still many practical difficulties in the comprehensive recovery, overall, with the continuous recovery of the national economy, the entire industry is expected to turn losses into profits this year.

The recovery process is expected to further accelerate——

July and August are the traditional peak season for summer transportation in civil aviation. The Civil Aviation Administration of China predicts that during this year's summer rush, passenger travel will be more concentrated, with strong demand for travel such as vacation and visiting relatives and friends. Nearly 1.95 million passengers will travel by air every day, and the civil aviation department will guarantee an average of 16500 flights per day, returning to the level of the same period before the epidemic in 2019.

Monitoring data from multiple online tourism platforms also shows that during the summer travel season, the domestic air ticket booking volume has increased by nearly 2.7 times year-on-year, and the booking routes are mainly inter provincial long-distance tours.

"This year's summer transportation is an important time node for the industry's recovery." Xiao Peng, a researcher at Qunar Big Data Research Institute, noticed that airlines are increasing capacity investment and increasing promotional efforts on popular routes. "This will help release potential travel demand and further accelerate the industry's recovery process."

Regarding transportation support during the summer rush, Li Yong stated that the Civil Aviation Administration of China will continue to urge airlines, airports, and other support units to continuously optimize their support processes, actively promote airports with a capacity of over ten million to reduce flight cut-off times, improve security screening efficiency, and increase the bridge to seat ratio. In addition, we will also focus on ensuring flight security. In case of special weather such as thunderstorms, we will urge airlines and airports to strengthen service support in all aspects.