The Chinese aviation industry witnessed a loss of $ 31.44 bn (217.44 billion yuan) in 2022 an increase of 137.46 bn yuan from 2021, as per the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) report.
The operating income of airlines was 336.48 billion yuan, a decrease of 20.5% from the previous year, and the loss was 177.12 billion yuan, an increased loss of 114.34 billion yuan from the previous year, the report said.
The depth and persistence of the impact of the epidemic on civil aviation transportation was far exceeding expectations, the CAAC said in the report.
The domestic transport volume in 2022 declined by 39.5 % year-on-year, and the number of domestic travelers' trips also declined by 40.9% as compared to 2021, showing sharp decline.
In terms of international flights, the number lagged behind the level in 2019. There were 336 international routes in 2022, compared with 953 international routes in 2019.
Things took a turn post the lifting of pandemic restrictions with the domestic flights surged 133.52% Y-O-Y as in March 2023 reporting a 3% increased as compared to March 2019 figures.
The industry is recovering in terms of international flights too with Shanghai recording the highest number of flights during 2023 May Day holidays, as per Cirium.
Although compared with 2019, there is still a certain gap in the number of flights, the gap is constantly narrowing. Among them, the flights to and from Macao have returned to the level of the same period in 2019, Cirium said.
China Southern Airlines launched the Beijing Daxing-Tokyo Haneda route with three flights per week, while the airline resumed the Guangzhou-Tokyo Haneda with four flights per week. The airline plans to open a route from Beijing Daxing to London from June 7, with seven flights per week.