Flights in China during September carried more domestic passengers than for any month this year, although international passenger volumes were well below a year earlier as Covid-19 border restrictions remain.
The flights carried 47.939mn passengers in September, 5.27pc higher than in August and 12.5pc less than a year, according to China's civil aviation administration. There were 47.75mn passengers on domestic flights, exceeding the previous high this year of 45.35mn in August and also just 2pc less than in September 2019. Domestic travel demand has steadily recovered since China has brought its Covid-19 outbreak under control. It has more recently been supported by its golden week holiday in October, although international travel demand remains restricted as most countries have not opened their borders.
A total of 665,000t of air cargo and mail was transported on the country's flights during September, 21.79pc higher than in August and 3.6pc less than the previous year.
China's flights carried 2.8bn passengers during January-September, 43.6pc less than a year earlier. Of this, 47.5pc, or 1.33bn passengers, were carried during July-September alone, after previous coronavirus outbreaks were stamped out. The flights carried 4.765mn t of air cargo and mail during January-September, 12.6pc less than a year earlier.
But market participants still forecast China's November jet fuel exports to remain low around 200,000-300,000t (53,000-79,000 b/d), or similar to previous months, with China's international flights yet to return and still low regional jet fuel demand.
