China Southern Airlines released its March operation data on April 15, showing passenger transport volume (measured by Revenue Passenger Kilometers) climbing 2.19% year on year.

Domestic RPK dropped 5.4 and international RPK surged 27.55%, with that on Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan routes rising 4.11%.

ASK (Available Seat Kilometers) increased 5.96% from a year earlier. Domestic ASK declined 1.11% and international ASK surged 29.81%. The airline deployed 0.51% more capacity on Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan routes.

Passenger load factor declined 2.94 percentage points from a year earlier to 79.67%.

In cargo traffic, FTK (Freight Tonne-Kilometers) rose 15.66% year on year and ATK (Available Tonne-Kilometers) increased 20.97%. Its freight load factor was up 2.21 percentage points to 51.85%.

In March, China Southern took delivery of two new Boeing 737-800s, and phased out one Boeing 737-700 (B-5221). As of March 31, the airline group operated a fleet of 669 aircraft.

In the first three months of 2016, the Guangzhou-based carrier handled 27.28 million people, up 1.62% over the same period a year earlier.