China's civil aviation sector recovers

Passengers disembark from Air China flight No CA9661 after the maiden flight from Beijing, to Hotan at Hotan Kungang Airport in Hotan, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, July 25, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's civil aviation sector has maintained a strong recovery momentum in the first half of 2023, with passenger trips reaching 88.2 percent of the level in 2019, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

The average daily number of flights has resumed to 17,150, and the average daily passenger trips increased to 2.08 million. The industry's total investment in fixed assets was 46 billion yuan ($6.42 billion).

Professor Li Xiaojin of Civil Aviation University in Tianjin said that the strong recovery is due to a number of factors, including the fact that the international civil aviation market has not yet fully recovered, so a large number of flights have been transferred to the domestic market. He also noted that China's COVID-19 management measures have been relaxed, which has released pent-up demand for domestic travel.

Beijing Daxing International Airport is expected to break its own record during the summer by handling 55,400 domestic and international flights with 7.9 million passenger trips. Beijing Capital International Airport is expected to handle about 70,000 flights carrying 10.44 million passenger trips during the summer.

More international routes are planned to be opened and resumed. As of the end of June, there were 3,368 international passenger flights every week, linking 62 countries. Beijing Daxing plans to open and resume 15 international routes during the summer to meet passengers' needs. A total of 20 airlines operate international flights at the airport.

"I am very pleased to see the airport has become crowded again," said Li Ziwei, manager of the airport's aviation department.

The outlook for China's civil aviation sector is positive, with the industry expected to continue to recover in the second half of 2023.