CHINA AVIATION MARKET

Flight data insights and aviation analysis focused on China's airline market , with data powered by OAG's Schedules Analyser.

Track the Chinese aviation market through data insights including:

• The busiest airports
• Top Chinese airlines
• The busiest domestic air routes in China
• China's biggest cities for air capacity
• The top 20 countries Chinese travellers fly to
• And more

The data is updated monthly. Seats are calculated as departing seats (one-way). The data displayed in the charts below is available to download here.

What are China's Top Airlines?

• China Southern Airlines is the busiest airline in April 2025, with 10.2m seats and representing 14.8% of the market, followed closely by China Eastern Airlines, with 10.1m seats, holding 14.7% market share.
• Percentage wise, Spring Airlines and Hainan Airlines have made the largest increases in capacity compared to last year, increasing 15% and 7% respectively.
• Of the Top 10 busiest airlines, five are down capacity on last year with Juneyao Airlines showing the largest rate of decline at 12%. The other airlines down on last year are Shenzhen Airlines (-5%), Sichuan Airlines (-4%), Shandong Airlines (-2%) and China Southern Airlines (-2%).
  

Which are the Most Flown Airline Routes in China?

• Beijing Capital Airport to Shanghai Hongqiao (PEK-SHA) is China's busiest route with 639,000 seats this April, which equates on average to 21,300 seats per day operating on the route.
• The top two fastest growing routes are route connections from Hangzhou (HGH); Hangzhou to Beijing Capital (HGH-PEK) is the fastest growing route, up 10%, followed by the connection from Hangzhou to Shenzhen (HGH-SZX) which is up 6% on April 2024.
• The route connecting Guangzhou to Shanghai Hongqiao (CAN-SHA) is showing the largest decline in capacity, down 13%.
  

Which Chinese Cities are Key For Air Travel?

• Beijing remains the busiest city this month with 5.2m seats through the two main airports, which is up 3% on last year.
• Capacity at Shanghai, the second busiest city is 4.6m seats this month, which is up 1%, followed by Chengdu as the third busiest city with 4m seats, up 0.3%.
• Two cities in the Top 10 are showing a decline in capacity compared to April 2024, namely Chongqing (-1%), and Wuhan (-2%).
• The Top 10 cities account for 44% of domestic capacity this month. 
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The table shows domestic capacity by Chinese Province for this month and the same month last year.