Passenger boardings for Chinese airlines up 12% for 2016

Chinese carriers transported 488 million passengers in 2016, up 12% from 432.4 million in 2015, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

Chinese carriers opened 260 new international routes during the year. According to the CAAC, passenger boardings jumped 23% to 51.6 million on international routes, which outpaced domestic routes at 436.1 million passengers, up 11% year-over-year.

The average passenger load factor was 82.7%, up 0.6 point over 2015. Average daily aircraft utilization rates decreased 0.1 hour to 9.4 hours. Cargo traffic volume rose 6% to 6.7 million tonnes.

The CAAC said Chinese carriers expect to carry 536 million passengers this year and cargo traffic volume is expected to reach 6.97 million tonnes.

Separately, the regulator reported that China’s air transport industry—which includes airlines, airports, aviation supplies company and aviation fuel company—earned a collective profit of CNY60.1 billion ($8.7 billion) from January to November, up 10.5% year-over-year.

(Katie Cantle - ATWOnline News)