China expects air travel to hit a record in 2024

• Beijing’s projection comes in higher than the 619.6 million air passenger trips reported in 2023.
• In the first half of 2024, total passenger trips rose nine percent from the same period in 2019, China’s State Council said.

China is expecting air passenger travel to hit a record in 2024, bouncing past pre-pandemic levels.

Passenger flights may reach 700 million this year, Song Zhiyong, head of the Civil Aviation Administration, said Tuesday at the Asia Pacific Summit for Aviation Safety, according to China’s State Council.

In the first half of this year, total passenger trips rose nine percent from the same period in 2019, the State Council added, signaling that China’s air travel sector has rebounded from the pandemic.

The country’s projection for 2024 comes in higher than the 619.6 million air passenger trips seen in 2023, according to data released in June by Chinese officials.

During the eight-day Lunar New Year holidays earlier this year, tourism revenues in China surged by 47.4% year-on-year, driven by a domestic travel boom, beating pre-pandemic levels.

International travel across the country recently got a boost from the Paris Olympic Games, and demand for flights to and from Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Europe has been particularly strong, a CAAC official told Chinese state media.

Meanwhile, the broader Asia-Pacific region’s travel sector has seen growth this year thanks to Chinese tourists.