China domestic traffic grows; new Chengdu airport opens 2021

A year after the pandemic started there are clear signs of strong domestic traffic growth at the point of origin, in China, along with an announcement that a new airport serving one of the major cities in western China, Chengdu, will open on schedule in Jun-2021.

While the signs are positive, it must be realised though that growth is only in the domestic segment, since international travel is still suppressed and the new airport is meant to handle international services.

In some ways, the acid test will come when a big international sporting event is held in the city later in the year, and it will be measured by the capability of the airport and event organisers to handle the visitors safely, and by whether or not they show up at all.

Summary:

• A new airport will open in China in June, serving the country’s seventh largest city, Chengdu.
• Chengdu will become the third city in China to have two international airports, although the existing one will handle mainly domestic services.
• The air transport recovery in China is taking place almost exclusively in the domestic segment, where passenger numbers are very high compared to numbers in Feb-2020, the first month of the pandemic.
• But international traffic shows no sign yet of recovery, and that is what this new airport was designed for.
• Many more new airports are scheduled to open over the next two years in China, including in major cities, like Chongqing.