According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the number of passengers on mainland domestic passenger routes in the March quarter of 2023 increased by 66.6% year-on-year, returning to 88.6% of the 2019 level.
The improvement comes after Beijing relaxed its nationwide vaccination policy in January, meaning mainland residents no longer need to be tested when traveling between provinces. According to statistics from the Civil Aviation Administration, the total passenger traffic of civil aviation (including scheduled, non-scheduled and cargo flights) increased by 68% year-on-year, reaching 80% of the level in the first quarter of 2019, while the passenger traffic of domestic flights increased by 68% year-on-year. Compared with before the epidemic, it increased by 66% to 88.6%.
However, despite the lifting of restrictions on foreign entry, international passenger traffic in the first quarter recovered to only 12.4% of 2019 levels, even though passenger numbers rose by 717% to around 2.44 million.
On international routes, the Civil Aviation Administration stated, “With the continuous recovery of international passenger flights, international passenger traffic in March recovered to 18.1% of the level in the same month before the epidemic.”
In terms of passenger traffic, the national airport passenger traffic (arrival and departure) increased by 68% year-on-year, reaching 80.3% of the 2019 level; the number of aircraft movements was 2.57 million, a year-on-year increase of 31.7%. Year-on-year growth to 93.4% in 2019.
