China's air passenger and cargo transport mostly recovered in the first six months of this year, as per the data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
China's civil aviation sector carried 284 million passengers in the first half of 2023, recording a recovery of almost 88% over 2019 levels. The cargo sector carried 53.1 billion tonne-kilometers of freight and 3.3 million tons of cargo and mail in the six months ended June 30, almost 85% and 95% more that the same period figures in 2019, respectively, CAAC data revealed.
Due to high fuel prices and Chinese yuan depreciation the airlines remained in the red in the H1, 2023. According to experts, one of the reasons for the deficit was that international markets lagged in their recovery, and passenger volume on such routes in May was less than one-third of that in the same month of 2019.
However, the Chinese aviation industry is optimistic about the aviation sector in the second half of this year.
As per CAAC forecast, the domestic passenger flights are expected to jump 11% to an average of 13,600 per day during the summer holidays this year as compared to the same time in 2019. The CAAC also anticipates passenger traffic to climb 7% to 1.8 million this summer.