China's aviation regulator wants passenger traffic to reach around 75% of pre-pandemic levels in 2023, as per the reports from Chinese state media. The new figures are expected to be 38% higher than last year since China adopted the zero-COVID policy closing off international borders for air travel.
Civil Aviation Administration of China expects the Chinese airline industry to strive to break even this year. China's major state-owned airlines have reported billions of dollars of losses for the first three quarters of 2022.
So far, the fourth quarter results are awaited but experts are of the opinion that the results would be far from positive since it is just a few days post dropping off the zero-COVID policy.
Going ahead, the year 2023 looks promising for Chinese carriers as most of the airlines are planning on expanding their network and some carriers are already started to experience capacity constraints.