China air travel demand rebounds – Bloomberg.

December 18, 2022
Holiday bookings have reportedly jumped on reopening news
Domestic flight activity in China has strongly picked up on the back of the latest Covid easing plan, soaring to around 65% of pre-pandemic levels at the start of this week, Bloomberg reported, citing aviation data. That’s equivalent to several thousand flights per day returning to the skies.
Ticket sales for the upcoming Lunar New Year period have reportedly also surged. Holiday bookings are expected to reach their highest level in three years, rising to 80% of pre-pandemic levels, Guo Lechun, an analyst with Qunar’s data research arm Qunar, was cited by the outlet as having said.
The pandemic has had a devastating impact on the global aviation industry, including in China, which has the largest domestic air travel market. Data shows that the nation’s top carriers – China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and Air China – have racked up losses of 152 billion yuan ($21.8 billion) since the start of 2020.
“If you look at around the world, air ticket prices are materially higher than in 2019,” Jain said, adding: “But when you look at China’s domestic air tickets, even into the third quarter of 2022, it’s about 15% lower than that of 2019.”
This article was originally published by RT.