Photo: Courtesy of Beijing Daxing International Airport

Beijing Daxing International Airport plans to add or resume nine international and regional routes in July to meet the rising demand for the summer travel peak. 

The routes include flights from Beijing Daxing to and from Nagoya in Japan, Jeju in South Korea, Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia, Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei and Bangkok in Thailand, the airport said on Tuesday. 

The aviation market has entered the peak season, and the airport is expected to carry 55,400 flights in the summer season of July and August, with more than 7.9 million passengers. 

The airport said daily passenger travel has seen an upward trend with an average passenger load factor of above 75 percent.

Photo: Courtesy of Beijing Daxing International Airport

Chinese tourists have been flocking to start their outbound trips in recent months after China lifted the travel ban.

Data from Alipay showed that from January to June 2023, the per capita consumption of Alipay users for outbound travel increased by 24 percent compared with 2019, and the top five destinations were Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, Thailand and France. 

The latest data released by the Tourism Authority of Thailand showed that Thailand has received more than 1.4 million Chinese tourists since January 1. 

Industry data shows that the travel market is expected to surpass the level before the epidemic during this year's summer peak. 

During the summer travel season this year, Juneyao Airlines plans to have more than 26,000 flights and expects to transport nearly 4 million passengers. China Southern Airlines plans to operate more than 12,000 flights from June 20 to October 10, with a total of more than 250,000 flights. 

China Eastern Airlines plans to have more than 2,990 daily flights during the peak season. It also plans to operate more than 500 extra flights, and the planned passenger seat kilometers will exceed the level of summer transportation in 2019. 

Data from industry information provider VariFlight showed that the actual number of passenger flights on domestic routes in the first week of July was about 97,000, which exceeded the level of the same period in 2019.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China said that nearly 1.95 million passengers are expected to travel by air daily during the summer travel season, and the number of flights could be 16,500 per day, returning to the level of the same period in 2019 before the epidemic. 

Global Times