Passenger turnover of some airlines in July
Drawing by Zhang Dawei
On the evening of August 15, major domestic airlines such as Air China, China Eastern Airlines, and Spring Airlines disclosed the latest operating data. On the whole, the consolidated passenger turnover (measured by revenue passenger kilometers) of all airlines continued to pick up year-on-year and month-on-month, and indicators such as passenger load factor also further increased.
Demand in the civil aviation market continues to recover
Passenger turnover is one of the core data to measure the operation of civil aviation companies. In July 2023, Air China’s consolidated passenger turnover (calculated by revenue passenger kilometers) will increase both year-on-year and month-on-month. Among them, domestic passenger turnover increased by 78.2% year-on-year and 15.9% month-on-month; international passenger turnover increased by 2033.4% year-on-year and 28.7% month-on-month. In July, China Eastern Airlines’ passenger transport capacity input (calculated by available seat kilometers) increased by 115.03% year-on-year; comprehensive passenger turnover (calculated by passenger passenger kilometers) increased by 151.72% year-on-year.
In terms of passenger load factor, the average passenger load factor of Air China in July was 75.4%, a year-on-year increase of 9.2 percentage points and a month-on-month increase of 2.7 percentage points. Among them, domestic routes increased by 9.4 percentage points year-on-year and 1.6 percentage points month-on-month; international routes increased by 18.2 percentage points year-on-year and 7.1 percentage points month-on-month. The comprehensive passenger load factor of China Eastern Airlines was 78.41%, a year-on-year increase of 11.43 percentage points.
Look at the data of private airlines. Spring Airlines’ domestic passenger turnover in July increased by 26.06% month-on-month, and international passenger turnover increased by 38.59% month-on-month. The passenger load factor of domestic routes is as high as 93.18%, and that of international routes is 86.90%. Juneyao Airlines’ domestic passenger traffic (measured by revenue passenger kilometers) in July increased by 15.13% month-on-month, and international passenger traffic increased by 41.33% month-on-month. In addition, the domestic and international passenger load factors of Juneyao Airlines in July were 88.37% and 78.40% respectively, both of which increased to varying degrees from the previous month.
Let’s look at the situation of newly opened, resumed and encrypted routes. Take China Eastern Airlines as an example. In July, China Eastern Airlines opened a number of new domestic routes including Shanghai Pudong-Altay, Shanghai Pudong-Dunhuang, Shanghai Pudong-Yining, etc., and newly launched international routes such as Beijing Daxing-Singapore and Shanghai Pudong-Hanoi. and other routes, and went around and encrypted more than 10 international routes. Air China has newly launched key routes such as Chengdu Shuangliu-Xi’an, Chengdu Tianfu-Manila, and Chongqing-Singapore.
According to the latest data released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, as of July 30, the average daily flight volume across the country has returned to 17,150, and the average daily passenger volume has increased to 2,081,600. In the first half of the year, a total of 53.13 billion ton-kilometers of transportation, 284 million passenger trips, and 3.276 million tons of cargo and mail transportation were completed, respectively recovering to 84.6%, 88.2% and 93.1% of the same period in 2019. Safe, competitive and orderly good situation.
The resumption of international flights ushers in good news
International routes are an important part of the performance of airlines. Since the beginning of this year, major airlines have resumed and increased international routes, and the passenger turnover and occupancy rate of international routes have increased significantly. However, data from the Civil Aviation Administration shows that as of the end of June this year, international passenger flights reached 3,368 per week, only recovering to 44% of the pre-epidemic level; the passenger load factor of international flights was 67.5%, 12.4 percentage points lower than before the epidemic.
However, this situation is expected to usher in a breakthrough within a few months. The U.S. Department of Transportation recently issued a new order, allowing Chinese airlines to operate up to 18 direct passenger flights between China and the United States per week starting from September 1, 2023, and increasing to 24 flights per week starting from October 29, 2023 , which will double the number of China-U.S. flights currently in operation.
Some civil aviation experts believe that although the number of flights between China and the United States is still far from the peak period in 2019 after the addition of flights, this new instruction is undoubtedly an important node in the recovery of the routes between the two countries. According to reports, in 2019, there were 332 flights per week between China and the United States, and currently there are only 24 flights per week in total. The demand for a large number of passenger exchanges between China and the United States cannot be met.
In addition, the list of the third batch of outbound group tours announced by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on August 10 shows that national travel agencies and online travel companies will resume operations of Chinese citizens going to relevant countries and regions (the third batch) for outbound group tours and “air tickets + hotels”. “Business, including the United States, South Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, and many other hotspot countries for outbound travel are included in this batch of lists.
Song Zhiyong, director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, predicted at the 2023 national civil aviation mid-year work video conference that the recovery of the international passenger transport market throughout the year will show the characteristics of slow first and then fast, first peripheral and then long-distance, first domestic airlines and then foreign airlines. In the first half of the year, the recovery of the international air passenger market will be accelerated, and the volume of international passenger flights is expected to recover to 60% to 65% of the pre-epidemic level.
The reporter noted that airlines also have their own expectations for the resumption of international flights. For example, China Eastern Airlines expects its international flights to recover to 60% to 70% of pre-epidemic levels in the third quarter, and more than 80% after the fall and winter seasons change; Air China expects its international flights to recover to 70% of pre-epidemic levels by the end of the year. For the whole year, the overall recovery is expected to be 50% to 60% of 2019.
As for the key work in the second half of the year, Song Zhiyong said that it is necessary to further expand the air transport market, take the expansion of domestic market demand as the strategic basis, encourage enterprises to deepen the market segmentation, form a differentiated competitive advantage, and accelerate the work of “connecting branches and branches and connecting the whole network”. We will do a solid job in reducing flight cancellations and delays and other livelihood issues, and comprehensively promote the construction of a service quality management system. Further promote the resumption of international flights, pragmatically promote and actively participate in the expansion of bilateral aviation rights and regional civil aviation cooperation and exchanges, and solidly promote the high-quality construction of the Air Silk Road.
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2023-08-16 00:42:00
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