CHINA AVIATION MARKET
TRACKING THE TRAVEL RECOVERY IN CHINA
EXPLORE THE LATEST FLIGHT DATA TO TRACK THE TRAVEL RECOVERY IN CHINA | MAY 2023
Flight data and analysis focused on China's aviation market recovery, with data powered by OAG's Schedules Analyser. 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.
TOP 10 BUSIEST AIRPORTS IN CHINA | MAY 2023
KEY POINTS
- Guangzhou (CAN) remains the largest airport in China with almost 5% of the country's domestic market, and 370k more seats than the next largest airport, Shenzhen (SZK).
- Domestic capacity at Guangzhou (CAN) is now 21% higher than May 2019.
- Shenzhen (SZK) is also growing strongly, with 24% more seats than in May 2019.
- Combined domestic capacity at Beijing Capital (PEK) and Beijing Daxing (PKX) is 5.4m seats, 48% more than in May 2019.
TOP 10 DOMESTIC AIRLINES IN CHINA | MAY 2023
China's Top 10 Airlines by departing seats (one way).
KEY POINTS
- China Southern continues to be the busiest airline for domestic capacity in China, followed by China Eastern. Combined the two airlines operated almost a third of domestic departing seats.
- China Southern added almost 765k and China Eastern 685k seat in May 2023.
- Ranked third in the domestic market for capacity, Air China has grown its capacity the most within the Top 10; operating 40% more seats than in May 2019.
- Whilst the Top 10 airlines operate 73% of capacity in May 2023, there is a long tail of smaller airlines with 30 airlines operating the remaining 27% of seats.
TOP 10 BUSIEST AIRLINE ROUTES IN CHINA | MAY 2023
KEY POINTS
- Beijing Capital Airport (PEK) to Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) remains the busiest domestic airline route in China. However, seat capacity on the Guangzhou (CAN) to Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) route continues to increase faster compared to 2019.
- The flight route seeing the most capacity increase this month is Chengdu Airport (CTU) to Bejing Capital (PEK), both Air China and Sichuan Airlines have added capacity resulting in a 9% growth in May.
- This month capacity on the Guangzhou (CAN) to Bejing route continues to pivot across from Bejing Capital (PEX) to Bejing Daxing (PKX) airport.
DOMESTIC VS INTERNATIONAL AIRLINE CAPACITY | MAY 2023
KEY POINTS
- Chinese carriers increased their international capacity by 22% this month, adding 650k airline seats between April and May 2023 and bringing the total number of seats flown to almost 3.7m.
- International capacity is now 42% of where it was in May 2019 and makes up 5% of all Chinese airline capacity.
DISTRIBUTION OF CHINA'S INTERNATIONAL AIRLINE CAPACITY BY COUNTRY | MAY 2023
KEY POINTS
- International airline capacity in China continues its travel recovery since reopening in January; carriers are operating over 650k more international seats in May than in April 2023.
- Thailand continues to be the busiest international route with almost 495k seats in May 2023.
- South Korea sees the largest airline capacity increase with 118k more seats, an increase of 35% compared to April 2023.
- Japan also saw a large increase in percentage terms with 29% more seats in May than in April 2023.
TOP 10 PROVINCES BY SEAT CAPACITY | MAY 2023
The table and graph show domestic airline capacity by Chinese province.
KEY POINTS
- The largest Province for scheduled airline capacity remains Guangdong Province accounting for 11% of all scheduled departing capacity.
- The gap between Guangdong and the next closest, Beijing Province remains almost 2.5m seats.
- Beijing and Sichuan each continue account for 7% of all scheduled departing capacity, while Shanghai and Zhejiang account for 6% each.
- The top 10 Provinces account for 59% of all capacity departing from Chinese airports.
- Domestic capacity continues to outperform 2019 levels, with May 2023 having 21% more seats than May 2019.
- Domestic capacity in the Top 10 Provinces grew most in Shandong and Shaanzi Provinces, each with 10% more seats than last month.
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KEY POINTS
- The USA is edging closer to recovery, with capacity this month sitting at just 5% below February 2019 levels.
- China has moved back into recovery again, with capacity up by 8%.
- India, Indonesia and Brazil are all sitting at a similar level, between 16-21% below 2019.
- Of the largest domestic markets, Canada is still furthest away from recovery.