On April 16, China Southern Airlines launched its Beijing Daxing Riyadh route, marking the official opening of the first regular direct passenger route from the mainland of China to Saudi Arabia. Entering the summer and autumn flight season, many domestic airlines announced that they would open new international routes and increase the number of popular routes. The Civil Aviation Administration of China predicts that the international passenger transport market of civil aviation will speed up its recovery in 2024. It is estimated that by the end of 2024, there will be about 6000 flights per week, which will recover to 80% in 2019.
What are the factors behind the "launching" of international routes? What kind of signal is released?
Passenger transport resumed, and entry-exit demand increased
"When I returned home, all the flights I bought were overbooked, and the staff called me to ask if I would like to wait for the next flight." Chen Zhuofu, who had just finished a five-day trip to Japan, told reporters that some of the popular tourist destinations had sold out of economy class flights, and the popularity of outbound travel was rising. "Now visa processing is convenient and customs clearance is more convenient. Many friends around me plan to travel abroad on the May Day holiday, so tickets are becoming popular," said Chen Zhuofu.
The "heat" of the rising demand for outbound travel is reflected in the data of international flights that continue to recover at a high speed. In March this year, Air China's international passenger transport capacity investment and passenger turnover increased significantly year on year, reaching 3.4 times and 4.53 times respectively; The international passenger transport of China Southern Airlines has kept doubling, the investment in passenger transport capacity has rebounded 1.79 times year-on-year, and the passenger turnover has rebounded about 2 times year-on-year, both higher than the domestic and regional operating data in the same period.
According to the first quarter data released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (hereinafter referred to as "CAAC"), both passenger traffic and cargo and mail traffic reached the highest value in the first quarter of each year. Specifically, the total passenger traffic volume of the civil aviation industry in the first quarter was close to 180 million person times, the highest passenger traffic volume in the first quarter over the years, up 37.7% year on year and 10.2% year on year. Among them, 14.12 million passengers were transported by international routes, which recovered to 78% of the same period in 2019.
From the perspective of flight volume, flight steward data shows that in the first quarter, the number of international flights of CAAC reached 130000, an increase of 19.7% compared with the fourth quarter of 2023, and the overall recovery rate of CAAC reached 69.2%. Among the outbound destinations, Southeast Asia is still a popular destination, with flights accounting for 41.6%, and South Korea, Japan and Thailand rank in the top three; The flight recovery rate in West Asia, Central Asia and Africa has exceeded the level in 2019.
From March 31, civil aviation entered the summer and autumn flight season. Major airlines have added and encrypted many international and regional routes to provide consumers with more travel options.
According to the person in charge of China Southern Airlines, several international and regional routes will be opened this season from Guangzhou to London Gatwick and Doha, from Beijing Daxing to Tehran, Riyadh, Macao, and from Urumqi to Moscow. China Eastern Airlines said it would open new routes from Shanghai to Riyadh and Vienna. Jixiang Airlines has added three direct flights from Shanghai Pudong to Athens every week since April 2, three direct flights from Shanghai Pudong to Manchester every week since July 1, and three direct flights from Shanghai Pudong to Brussels every week since July 3.
According to the information released by the Civil Aviation Administration, in the summer and autumn of 2024, 164 domestic and foreign airlines were approved to apply for 17257 passenger and cargo flights per week, and a total of 70 foreign countries were navigable, connecting 178 foreign cities from 63 domestic cities. The volume of international passenger flights continued to grow, the passenger transport market of surrounding countries recovered significantly, and passenger flights to Vietnam, Japan, Laos, and Russia increased significantly; The favorable impact of visa free policy gradually appeared, and the number of flights to Hungary, Austria, Spain, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore increased significantly.
"The batch of 'new' international routes shows that China's economy and the world economy are increasingly interconnected and interdependent, and China's economy is becoming more and more internationalized." Zhang Jianping, deputy director of the Academic Committee of the Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, Ministry of Commerce, told reporters, "The demand for overseas tourism continues to recover and release. China's efforts to expand the use of foreign capital, implement negative list management, and establish free trade pilot zones have helped China and other countries in two-way trade and two-way investment, which will inevitably generate a strong driving force for business personnel exchanges and rising demand for international flights."
Busy freight, showing the vitality of foreign trade
At 3:00 a.m., the runway of Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport (hereinafter referred to as "Zhengzhou Xinzheng Airport") in Henan Province is still busy, with cargo flights taking off and landing every ten minutes. This is an airport type national logistics hub. Every day, more than 10 planes from Europe, America, Southeast Asia, etc. arrive with full loads of goods, and nearly 1000 tons of goods from all over the country fly from here to the world.
"The airport has set up special classes to connect with major airlines. From landing guarantee, route rights to facilities rental and construction, each of them has been followed up and fully supported to impress customers with the greatest sincerity." Chen Xi, deputy director of the Marketing Committee of Henan Airport Group, introduced that at present, there are 30 freight airlines operating in Zhengzhou Xinzheng Airport, and the airport has opened 49 freight routes in total, A hub airline network across Europe, America and Asia has been established
The busy cargo flow shows the vitality of foreign trade. Since this year, major airports have intensively increased international cargo routes to achieve global cargo connectivity.
Recently, a B738 full cargo plane of Malaysia World Cargo Airlines flew from Shenzhen Airport to Kuching, which is the second international cargo route newly opened by Shenzhen Airport this year. After the opening of this route, Shenzhen Airport has 60 domestic and foreign cargo routes, including 38 international and regional cargo routes, covering major global air cargo hubs such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Frankfurt, Paris, London, Liege, Budapest, etc. In addition to the newly opened cargo routes to Kuching, in April, Shenzhen Airport also frequently encrypted four international cargo routes from Shenzhen to Istanbul, Sydney, Sao Paulo, Doha, etc. This year, 9 new and encrypted international cargo routes have been opened, further meeting the air transportation needs of Shenzhen's high-tech, cross-border e-commerce, fresh and cold chain and other air suitable products, Drive the steady growth of airport freight business.
With the increase of routes, the key is to improve efficiency.
"Ten years ago, it took four days to rush the shipment from Shenzhen to Luxembourg via Zhengzhou Xinzheng Airport, but now it takes only two days at the earliest." Zhang Yanping, general manager of Henan Xinbaifu International Logistics Company, lamented that the two days saved are very important for logistics enterprises that fight against the clock. "Freight outbound has to go through a series of processes. In the past, it had to go to multiple windows and fill in multiple documents. From the pre configured manifest, security check list to the customs declaration form and appraisal report, more than a dozen documents are linked, many of which still need to be stamped. "
Since Henan Airport Group took the lead in building an aviation electronic cargo information service platform, integrating the airport, customs, airlines, freight forwarders and other data chains, most of the processes have been transferred to online processing, and the problems of repeated filling and multiple declaration have been effectively solved. "This measure alone will increase the efficiency of data transmission by 20%, and significantly reduce the operating costs of enterprises." Gu Changbao, general manager of the freight company of Henan Airport Group, introduced that the airport has built the most electronic air cargo information service platform in the country, attracting more than 260 enterprises to settle in, and handled 460000 orders of goods last year.
"The coverage of routes and the number of freight carriers are directly related to the international influence, attraction and radiation capacity of aviation logistics hubs. The increase of freight flights, on the one hand, shows that China, as the world's largest manufacturing center, has a large number of high value-added products that need to be transported to overseas markets by air freight; On the other hand, as the world's second largest consumer market, a large number of imported products enter China through international freight, which reflects the rising market demand. " Zhang Jianping said, "In the future, we should timely and fully study and judge the market demand, expand routes, speed up, increase the level of storage security, establish and improve the hub route network covering the world's major economies, so as to continue to increase the effect of industrial agglomeration, and further strengthen connectivity with ASEAN countries, RCEP countries and countries jointly building the" Belt and Road "."
Add impetus to the world economic recovery
"The rapid recovery of international passenger routes reflects the continuous release of consumer travel demand; the increase of freight routes reflects the full vitality of China's foreign trade economy." Zhang Jianping said, "This not only effectively promotes the development of international tourism, but also adds impetus to the recovery of the world economy."
Boyan Lalic, director of the Serbian "Belt and Road" Research Institute, said that since the mutual visa exemption policy between Serbia and China came into effect in 2017, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Serbia has been increasing, which has promoted Serbia's economic development and cultural exchanges between the two countries. "During the Spring Festival this year, various celebrations were held in various parts of Serbia, and many Chinese tourists came here." He said that the scale of China's outbound tourism ranks first in the world, making contributions to the economic development of relevant countries. "Since last year, China's outbound tourism has continued to recover. This is a testament to the vitality of China's economy, and also adds impetus to the global tourism industry and economic recovery. We are eager for more Chinese tourists to come."
The spokesman of the Prime Minister's Office of Thailand, Jai Vacheron, said that after the mutual visa exemption agreement between Thailand and China came into force on March 1, more Chinese tourists are expected to choose Thailand as a tourist destination. This will further promote the growth of Thailand's tourism industry and bring more vitality to economic development.
How to view the development trend of civil aviation this year?
The relevant person in charge of the Civil Aviation Administration said that from the recovery of civil aviation in the first quarter and the current situation, air travel in the second quarter may continue to be "not light in the off-season". In the future, the Civil Aviation Administration will guide airlines to continue to increase the investment in transport capacity between China and countries jointly building the "Belt and Road" and international tourist source countries, and open more airline flights to better serve the national strategy and meet the travel needs of passengers. At the same time, various measures will be taken to strengthen the supervision of the use of air rights resources, improve the efficiency of the use of air rights resources, and promote the rapid recovery of international passenger flights.
It is widely expected in the industry that with the increase of international flights, the outbound tourism market will rise sharply during the May Day holiday and summer vacation this year.
According to the person in charge of China Southern Airlines, China Southern Airlines will pay close attention to the market demand, airport operation guarantee conditions and other actual situations, further promote the recovery and increase of flights in international, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions, promote the deepening and implementation of the high-quality co construction of the "Belt and Road", serve the country's high-level opening-up and friendly exchanges, and constantly meet the air travel needs of passengers.
"There is still a great market potential to be tapped in continuing to promote the recovery of international flights." Zhan Fen, associate researcher of the China Civil Aviation Science and Technology Research Institute, believes that the future increase of China's international routes will come from traditional surrounding markets such as Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia, and from emerging markets such as countries jointly building the "One Belt One Road". To further improve the international accessibility of the route network, it is necessary to fully tap the market potential, open up all links of the industrial chain, create "big travel" ecological services, and bring passengers more diversified and convenient aviation products. (Reporter Kong Dechen)
People's Daily Overseas Edition (the 6th edition on April 23, 2024)
