Booming domestic travel demand during summer holidays proves to be a bright ray of sunshine for China’s aviation sector
- Domestic flights in August were nearly at the same level as a year earlier
- Outbound flights at Sanya Phoenix International Airport rose 12 per cent last month from a year earlier
Domestic flights in August averaged well over 10,000 flights a day, almost the same level as a year earlier, according to VariFlight, a Chinese company specialising in the aviation data services. Overall, more than 28,000 flights – domestic, international and stopovers – took off and landed at mainland airports on average daily in August, an increase of 12 per cent from July.
“The summer break boosted travel demand and because China contained the pandemic well it allowed normal resumption of work and production activities,” said Qi Qi, an associate professor at Guangzhou Civil Aviation College. “The aviation industry relies on economic development. When economic activities and people’s confidence in travel increase, the aviation volume rises naturally. ”
The volume of domestic flights in August recovered to 95.4 per cent of last year’s level, while 13 Chinese carriers operated more flights compared to a year earlier, according to data from Flight Master, an online Chinese travel platform.
Sanya Phoenix International Airport in Hainan province saw a 12 per cent year on year rise in the number of outbound flights in August, making it the country’s best performing airport by flight volume, data from VariFlight showed. Five other hubs – Ningbo Lishe International Airport, Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, Wenzhou Longwan International Airport, Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, Nanchang Changbei International Airport – also reported year on year growth last month.
