The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) says the number of passengers on mainland domestic passenger routes increased by 66.6% year-on-year in the March 2023 quarter, recovering to 88.6% of 2019 levels.
The improvement comes after Beijing relaxed its national vaccination policy in January, meaning mainland residents no longer need to be tested to travel between provinces. According to the CAAC, the total number of passengers carried by civil aviation – including scheduled, non-scheduled and cargo flights – increased by 68% year-on-year to 80% of 1Q19 levels, while the number of passengers carried by domestic flights grew by 66% to 88.6% of the pre-pandemic level.
However, despite the lifting of restrictions on foreign arrivals, international traffic in the first quarter only recovered to 12.4% of 2019 levels, albeit with passenger numbers rising by 717% to around 2.44 million.
On international routes, the CAA said, “With the continued resumption of international passenger flights, international traffic resumed in March at 18.1% of the level recorded in the same month before the outbreak.”
As for passenger volume, the number of passengers traveling through the country’s airports (arrivals and departures) rose by 68% year-on-year to 80.3% of 2019 levels, while the number of aircraft movements was 2.57 million, up 31.7% year-on-year to 93.4% of 2019.
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