Chinese carriers see passengers surge in July

Major Chinese airports and airlines saw soaring passenger trips in July compared with the previous month, and international trips also saw a fast recovery, which was “a welcome development.”

The six listed airlines — including China Southern Airlines, Air China and China Eastern Airlines — transported 24.78 million passengers in July, an increase of 92.8% from the previous month, according to industry information provider VariFight.

The passenger trips overall recovered to 77% in the same period in 2021 and 32% in the same period in 2019.

China Southern ranked first with 8.46 million trips, followed by 5.2 million for Air China and 5.08 million for China Eastern.

Flights averaged about 9,931 per day in July, a month-on-month increase of 42.16%.

Market watchers said that the figures reflected peak summer travel demand and a surge in international travel.