Asia-Pacific Development in the Post-Epidemic Era

The global market bottomed out in April 2020, and the only trend now can be upward. The Mainland China aviation tourism market is expected to decline 58% from the first four months of last year. However, although the international market has been hit hard since February, the domestic market is now showing signs of recovery.

At present, domestic flights are gradually recovering. Below the surface many government subsidies promote the return of enterprises to work and production, and airlines launched government-enterprise charter services. However, unlike the fast-moving consumer and education industry, there will be a wave of retaliatory rebound after the epidemic. The recovery of the aviation industry will be slower - referring to the situation after the SARS epidemic - even if the government has issued a series of subsidies and incentive policies. However, the tourism industry has not experienced the expected blowout growth. The impact of SARS on the industry lasted for almost a year before it gradually subsided.

The domestic civil aviation market recovered further in June, according to the "Feiyou Technology June 2020 Civil Aviation Operation Report". In June, the flight execution volume of mainland China routes continued to rise steadily, and the average execution rate increased to nearly 75%. However in late June, affected by the Beijing epidemic prevention and control, the flight volume in Beijing fell steeply, and the overall flight volume of mainland routes fluctuated slightly. On the other hand, the volume of navigable international flights in Mainland China is still weak, with an average execution rate of only 18.3%.

Airports in Mainland China reported around 22,470 take offs and landings per day in June, an increase of 18.8% compared with May. The highest in a single day was 24,610 (on June 12), which was close to the average daily takeoff and landing level in 2016. In June, the number of flights in mainland China continued to be higher than that of the United States, and the number of landings and departures exceeded that of the United States by about 21.5%.

The utilization rate of aircraft continued to increase steadily in June. The average was about 5.09 hours/day, an increase of 17.01% from the previous month. In June, the overall passenger load factor on mainland routes tended to be flat, averaging 66.85%.

Dallas-Fort Worth Airport in the United States jumped from the second place in May to the top of the TOP30 list of global airport takeoffs and landings in June, becoming the airport with the most takeoffs and landings in the world. Chengdu Shuangliu and Guangzhou Baiyun tied for second place on the list, Shenzhen Baoan and Atlanta airports are ranked 4th and 5th respectively. 17 airports in China are on the list, accounting for about 57%. 9 airports in the United States and two in Vietnam are on the list, with one each for Japan and South Korea.

Chengdu Shuangliu Airport

Southwest Airlines (WN) ranks first in the TOP30 list of global airlines, becoming the airline with the most capacity in June; China Southern Airlines (CZ), American Airlines (AA), Eastern Airlines (MU) and Delta Aviation (DL) rank second to fifth respectively. 15 airlines in China make the list, accounting for 50%. Seven airlines in the United States make the list, with two each for Japan, Russia, and Vietnam and one each for India and Turkey.

The domestic flight schedule in Mainland China shows that by the end of July, it may return to a slightly positive year-on-year growth; as travel restrictions begin to relax, China and other regions are beginning to show signs of recovery. Airlines with a large domestic market are expected to usher in capacity back to the pre-Covid levels by July, and even see growth.