Currently, the number of destination countries that have resumed outbound group tours has reached 60. With more packages coming, the Labor Day overseas group bookings have also entered the peak period. Data shows that the order volume of overseas group products for the Labor Day holiday in the past half month increased by 167% compared to the previous half month. To this day, the top overseas travel destinations for Labor Day include many hot countries. To name a few, Thailand, Egypt, Switzerland, Singapore, New Zealand, Russia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, and Hungary.
The new airlines season is coming, and ticket prices are going to decline
On March 26th, the national civil aviation ushered in the new aviation season. According to the Civil Aviation Administration, during the summer and autumn flight season this year, a total of 169 domestic and foreign airlines plan to arrange 117222 passenger and cargo flights per week, with a significant increase in the planned volume of international passenger flights compared to last year.
In terms of domestic flights, 41 domestic airlines plan to arrange 99057 domestic flights per week (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan). By comparison, there will be a year-on-year decrease of 0.39%. Among them, there will be 96561 passenger flights per week, a year-on-year decrease of 0.44%; Meanwhile, there will be 2496 cargo flights per week, an increase of 1.79% year-on-year.
Non-mainland areas are also expecting a boost
In terms of flights on Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan routes, 36 airlines plan to arrange 3463 passenger and cargo flights per week. It’s an increase of 30.83% compared to the summer and autumn flight season of 2022. In terms of Hong Kong routes, 27 airlines plan to arrange 1716 passenger and cargo flights per week between 39 destinations in the mainland and Hong Kong. It’s a year-on-year increase of 35.44%. And regarding Macao routes, 12 airlines plan to arrange 821 passenger flights per week between 33 destinations in the mainland and Macao. It’s a year-on-year increase of 32.85%. And about cross-strait routes, 21 airlines plan to arrange 926 passenger and cargo flights per week.
In terms of international flights, domestic and foreign airlines plan to arrange 14702 international passenger and cargo flights per week. When it comes to international passenger transport, 28 domestic airlines plan to arrange 6772 regular international passenger flights per week. There will be 55 countries and 101 cities open to traffic. A total of 88 foreign airlines fly to China from 79 cities in 47 countries. In the meantime, they will also arrange 3808 scheduled passenger flights per week.
Outbound group tours rebound as domestic tours revive
The weekly flight volume of domestic passenger flights in the new airlines season will exceed that before the epidemic, with a year-on-year increase of 28.2% in the same flight season of 2019. Among them, the Beijing-Shanghai line has 884 weekly return flights, with a daily average of 126.3 flights, surpassing Shanghai Shenzhen, Shanghai Guangzhou and other routes, once again becoming the busiest route in China; Beijing Chengdu ranks second among the busiest routes, averaging 126.0 flights per day.
Industry insiders have analyzed that the new airlines season has brought a large number of flight adjustments. Meanwhile, many domestic and foreign flights are new. Flight encryption is going to drive down ticket prices and reduce passenger travel costs.
Deep Digital China will continue reporting on outbound tourism trends in China.