During the "May Day" holiday (May 1-5), the country's civil aviation sent a total of 9.971 million passengers, with a daily average of 1.994 million passengers, an average daily increase of 11.1% over the May Day holiday in 2019 and an average daily increase of 8.1% over the May Day holiday in 2023.
This is the "May Day" civil aviation travel data released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China today. According to the statistics of the Civil Aviation Administration, from May 1 to 5, the national civil aviation has a total of 85,986 guaranteed flights, with an average of 17,197 flights per day, an average daily increase of 7.4% compared with the "May Day" holiday in 2019 and an average daily increase of 7.5% compared with the "May Day" holiday in 2023.
Whether it is compared with 2023 or 2019, the increase in flight volume is smaller than the increase in passenger volume, and it can be said that civil aviation has ushered in the "hottest May Day in history", however, both domestic and international air tickets are much cheaper than the "May Day" in 2023.
Domestic: See popular destinations from the airport
During this year's May Day, a number of airports released record flight and passenger volume data. For example, Shanghai Pudong and Hongqiao guaranteed a total of 11,000 flights (including 7,000 at Pudong Airport and 4,000 at Hongqiao Airport), a year-on-year increase of 28%, and 1.703 million inbound and outbound passengers (including 1.072 million at Pudong Airport and 631,000 at Hongqiao Airport), with an average daily passenger flow of 341,000, a year-on-year increase of 37%. On May 5, the single-day flight volume and passenger flow of Shanghai Airport reached 2,307 and 374,000 respectively, both setting a record for the "May Day" holiday.
The airports under the Sichuan Airport Group carried a total of 1.258 million passengers during the "May Day" period, also hitting a record high for the same period in history. The Chengdu Aviation Hub, which consists of Shuangliu Airport and Tianfu Airport, has completed 8,042 takeoffs and landings, 1.203 million passenger throughputs, and 11,000 tons of cargo and mail throughput, an increase of 4.6%, 10.0%, and 35.9% respectively over the same period in 2023. Among them, there were 588 international and regional flights, with a passenger throughput of 74,000, an increase of 98.6% and 133.8% respectively over the same period in 2023.
During the Spring Festival, Harbin Airport in Heilongjiang Province guaranteed a total of 2,159 flights and transported 305,800 passengers, an increase of 4.0% and 10.3% year-on-year respectively.
According to the statistics of Flight Steward, the average daily inbound and outbound flight volume of 22 10-million-level airports during the "May Day" holiday will increase year-on-year in 2023, of which Shanghai Pudong, Qingdao Jiaodong, and Hohhot airports will increase by 58.1%, 16.7%, and 13.2% respectively.
However, there are also some airports that do not exceed the number of flights in 2023. Among them, the flight volume of Sanya Phoenix, Nanchang Changbei and Wenzhou Longwan airports decreased more year-on-year, down 13.4%, 9.9% and 9.3% respectively.
If compared with 2019, there are 28 tens of millions of airports with a positive increase in the average daily inbound and outbound flight volume, of which Ningbo Lishe, Changchun Longjia, and Haikou Meilan Airport increased by 31.0%, 30.0%, and 29.0% respectively. Yinchuan Hedong, Nanchang Changbei and Tianjin Binhai airports saw a large decline in flight volume, down 12.1%, 8.7% and 6.1% respectively.
The airports with a large increase in the number of flights mentioned above are also popular destinations for passengers during the "May Day" period.
It is worth noting that the tourism boom in small cities during the "May Day" period has led to an increase in the popularity of air ticket bookings at many regional airports in China. According to the data of the same trip, the popularity of air ticket bookings to popular regional airports in China increased by more than 30% year-on-year, among which the popularity of air ticket bookings to popular regional airports such as Yichun Lindu Airport, Baicheng Chang'an Airport, and Guoluo Maqin Airport increased by more than 100%.
Although civil aviation travel during the "May Day" period hit a new high, it is cheaper than the "May Day" in 2023 from the perspective of domestic air ticket prices.
According to the statistics of Flight Steward, the average economy class ticket price (including fuel) in the domestic market during the May Day holiday in 2024 will decrease by 22.4% year-on-year in 2023 and 0.9% year-on-year in 2019.
In this regard, Lin Zhijie, a person in the civil aviation industry, analyzed to the first financial reporter that last year was the first complete long holiday after the epidemic was released, so the market demand was particularly hot, and the ticket price was also very high. In addition, due to the recent weather, more trips have chosen high-speed rail and self-driving.
International: There are more flights, and the fare is lowered
As the first "May Day" holiday after the resumption of outbound travel, the number of international air ticket bookings also hit a record high on multiple platforms.
According to the statistics released by the National Immigration Administration today, border inspection agencies across the country guaranteed a total of 8.466 million Chinese and foreign personnel during this year's May Day holiday, an increase of 35.1% over the same period last year, and the peak of single-day entry and exit customs clearance occurred on May 3, reaching 1.801 million. Among them, 4.768 million mainland residents entered and exited the country, an increase of 38 percent over the same period last year, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan residents entered and exited 2.919 million, an increase of 20.8 percent over the same period last year, and 779,000 foreigners entered and exited, an increase of 98.7 percent over the same period last year.
The popularity of "May Day" international air ticket bookings is not unrelated to the decline in international ticket prices. On the flight steward platform, the average price of international air tickets (economy class) during the "May Day" period is 2,330 yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 27% compared with 2023.
The decline in international air tickets is related to the gradual resumption of international flights. According to the statistics of the flight steward, South Korea, Japan and Thailand ranked the top three among the major international/regional navigation during the "May Day" holiday, of which the average daily flight volume recovery rate to and from South Korea reached 84.9%; The recovery rate to and from Singapore reached 99.4%, and flights to and from the UAE exceeded the same period in 2019.
During the "May Day" period, 11 of the top 20 inbound and outbound routes exceeded the average daily flight volume of the same period in 2019, of which the average daily flight volume of Shanghai = Bangkok, Kunming = Bangkok, Hangzhou-Hong Kong, China, and Chengdu = Bangkok exceeded 2% of the same period in 2019; The recovery rates of Shanghai-Hong Kong and Shenzhen-Bangkok were low, with 76.4% and 83.5%, respectively
The Middle East and Europe are popular outbound destinations for this year's "May Day". On the Qunar platform, air ticket bookings for Saudi Arabia and Egypt in the Middle East have increased by more than three times, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Qatar have increased by more than 50%, and the United Kingdom, Hungary, Ireland, Spain and Croatia in Europe have doubled their air ticket bookings.
In addition, due to the recent decline in the yen exchange rate, 100 yen is only exchanged for about 4.6 yuan, which has led to a significant increase in the cost performance of travel to Japan, and Japan has also become a popular outbound destination for "May Day". Qunar data shows that the top 10 popular destinations during the May Day period are Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, the United States, the Philippines, and Australia, and the number of air ticket bookings to Japan has increased by more than 60% compared with 2019, ranking first among the top ten destinations.
And with the resumption of more international routes, the level of revenue on international routes has also declined. The reporter combed through the 2023 annual reports disclosed by the three major airlines one after another and found that the revenue of the three airlines on international route kilometers fell sharply year-on-year.
However, a number of airlines told reporters that the current revenue level of international routes will still be much higher than before the epidemic. For example, China Eastern Airlines revealed at an internal market exchange meeting that the ticket price of international flights in January increased by about 13.4% compared with 2019, 22% in February, and 17.6% in March. On a three-month average, the average ticket price has increased by about 18%.
Source: Yicai