China’s Lunar New Year air passenger traffic fall offset by 200 per cent increase in international cargo flights

China’s air passenger traffic fell 45.16 per cent year on year over the Lunar New Year holiday, with passenger numbers standing at 3.57 million over the seven-day holiday

But the number of international cargo flights during the seven-day period surged 212.48 per cent year on year

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Data showed the number of international cargo flights during the seven-day period surged 212.48 per cent year on year. Photo: EPA

Published: 2:45pm, 19 Feb 2021Updated: 2:45pm, 19 Feb 2021

China’s air passenger traffic fell over Lunar New Year, but a surge of over 200 per cent in the number of international cargo flights during seven-day holiday showed that signs of a quick recovery are emerging due to the country’s success in curbing domestic transmission of the coronavirus.

Air passenger traffic fell 45.16 per cent year on year over the Lunar New Year, the aviation regulator said on Thursday.

Passenger numbers stood at 3.57 million over the seven-day holiday period, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said, adding that average load factor, a measure of seats filled, stood at 57.51 per cent.

But CAAC data showed the number of international cargo flights during the seven-day period surged 212.48 per cent year on year.

We expect travel restrictions to be relaxed, with the pent-up demand leading to higher load factors before the final stage of the recovery – higher ticket price

Andrew Lee

Data from the brokerage Jefferies also showed domestic seat capacity, which during the week of February 8 plunged to the lowest level since February last year, is slated to increase 65.5 per cent this week, compared with the previous week.

“With only one local infection case in China since 7 February, we expect travel restrictions to be relaxed, with the pent-up demand leading to higher load factors before the final stage of the recovery – higher ticket prices,” said Andrew Lee, equity analyst at Jefferies.

And although Chinese refrained from travelling over the holiday, they kept spending with the sales of nine duty-free stores on the holiday resort island of Hainan exceeding 1.5 billion yuan (US$232 million) during the seven-day holiday, doubling that of 2019 holiday before the coronavirus outbreak, the local government said on Thursday.