VariFlight: Chinese Airlines Development Report for February 2017
By Maggie, China Aviation Daily | Mar. 30, 2017
VariFlight - China Aviation Big Data Research Center has released the Chinese Airlines Development Report for February 2017:
- the total actual arrival flights of domestic airlines amounted to 329.6 thousand, representing a month-on-month decrease of 6.2%;
- international flights amounted to 35 thousand, which accounted for 10.7% of total actual arrival flights;
- there were 5299 nonstop routes: 4051 domestic routes and 1248 international routes;
- domestic airlines provided 46.134 million seats on domestic routes, representing a month-on-month decrease of 5.2%.
Actual Arrival Flights
1. Total actual arrival flights
Total actual arrival flights
In February 2017, the actual arrival flights of domestic airlines amounted to 329.6 thousand.
The actual arrival flights of major airlines totaled 278.4 thousand.
The actual arrival flights of other airlines totaled 51.2 thousand.
Month-on-month movement
Compared with January 2017, the total actual arrival flights of domestic airlines in February 2017 showed a month-on-month decrease of 6.2%.
Year-on-year movement
Compared with February 2016, the total actual arrival flights of domestic airlines in February 2017 showed a year-on-year increase of 5.2%.
2. Major airlines' actual arrival flights
TOP3 in actual arrival flights
China Southern Airlines: CZ, actural arrival flights totaled 56 thousand
China Eastern Airlines: MU, actural arrival flights totaled 55 thousand
Air China: CA, actural arrival flights totaled 35 thousand
Month-on-month movement
Compared with January 2017, all major airlines showed a decrease on actural arrival flights in February.
Compared with January 2017, China Express Airlines(G5) showed a largest month-on-month decrease of 34.7% on actural arrival flights in February.
3. Other airlines' actual arrival flights
TOP3 in actual arrival flights
Lucky Air: 8L, actural arrival flights totaled 6095
China United Airlines: KN, actural arrival flights totaled 4590
West Air: PN, actural arrival flights totaled 3993
Month-on-month movement
Compared with January 2017, all other airlines showed a decrease on actural arrival flights except Qingdao Airlines(QW), Hebei Airlines(NS), China United Airlines(KN), Jiangxi Airlines(RY), 9 Air(AQ), Colorful Guizhou Airlines(GY), Hongtu Airlines(A6) and Okay Airways(BK) in February.
The airline with the largest month-on-month increase on actural arrival flights in February 2017 compared with January 2017 is Qingdao Airlines (QW, with a month-on-month increase of 12.0%).
Longjiang Airlines(LT) launched Harbin⇋Hefei⇋Zhuhai route on February 10.
International flights & proportion
1. International flights & Proportion
International flights
In February, the international flights carried out by domestic airlines amounted to 35.3 thousand, representing a month-on-month decrease of 8.9%.
In February, the domestic flights carried out by domestic airlines amounted to 294.3 thousand, representing a month-on-month decrease of 5.9%.
Proportion of international flights
In February, international flights carried out by domestic airlines accounted for 10.7% of total actural arrival flights.
Compared with January 2017, the proportion of international flights carried out by domestic airlines in February 2017 showed a month-on-month decrease of 0.3%.
Compared with February 2016, the proportion of international flights carried out by domestic airlines in February 2017 showed a year-on-year decrease of 0.9%.
2. Each airline's international flights & proportion of international flights
Note: Month-on-month increase represents a percentage movement of the proportion of international flights compared with last month.
TOP3 in international flights
China Eastern Airlines: MU, 8646 international flights
China Southern Airlines: CZ, 7765 international flights
Air China: CA, 6143 international flights
TOP3 in proportion of international flights
Spring Airlines: 9C, 27.0%
Air China: CA, 17.8%
China Eastern Airlines: MU, 15.8%
Nonstop routes
1. Total amount of nonstop routes
In February 2017, there are 5299 nonstop routes of domestic airlines. Domestic routes totaled 4051 and international routes totaled 1248.
Compared with January 2017, nonstop routes had a net decrease of 10 in February 2017. 74 new routes were launched while 84 routes were closed.
Compared with January 2017, domestic routes had a net decrease of 16 in February 2017. 49 new routes were launched while 65 routes were closed.
Compared with January 2017, international routes had a net increase of 6 in February 2017. 25 new routes were launched while 19 routes were closed.
2 Major airlines' nonstop routes
TOP3 in domestic routes
China Eastern Airlines: MU, 964 routes
China Southern Airlines: CZ, 953 routes
Air China: CA, 581 routes
TOP3 in international routes
China Eastern Airlines: MU, 343 routes
China Southern Airlines: CZ, 313 routes
Air China: CA, 228 routes
TOP3 in new routes
China Eastern Airlines: MU, 15 new routes, 10 domestic routes, 5 international routes
China Southern Airlines: CZ, 12 new routes, 9 domestic routes, 3 international routes
Xiamen Airlines: MF, 12 new routes, 10 domestic routes, 2 international routes
3 Other airlines' nonstop routes
TOP3 in domestic routes
Lucky Air: 8L, 206 routes
China United Airlines: KN, 146 routes
Chengdu Airlines: EU, 144 routes
TOP3 in international routes
Okay Airways: BK, 28 routes
Lucky Air: 8L, 28 routes
West Air: PN, 2 routes
Chongqing Airlines: OQ, 2 routes
TOP3 in new routes
9 Air: AQ, 6 new domestic routes
Donghai Airlines: DZ, 6 new domestic routes
Colorful Guizhou Airlines: GY, 5 new domestic routes
Available seats & ASK
1. Available seats of domestic routes
Major airlines
TOP3 in available seats
China Southern Airlines: CZ, 7.478 million
China Eastern Airlines: MU, 6.932 million
Air China: CA, 4.955 million
Month-on-month movement in available seats
Compared with January 2017, all major airlines showed a decrease on available seats on domestic routes in February 2017.
China Express: G5, with the largest month-on-month decrease of -42.8%
Other airlines
TOP3 in available seats
Lucky Air: 8L, 0.924 million
China United Airlines: KN, 0.745 million
West Air: PN, 0.68 million
Month-on-month movement in available seats
Hebei Airlines: NS, with the largest month-on-month increase of 13.9%
Grand Air China: CN, with the largest month-on-month decrease of -10.8%
2. ASK of domestic routes
Major airlines
TOP3 in ASK
China Southern Airlines: CZ, 9401.78 million seat kilometers
China Eastern Airlines: MU, 7297.43 million seat kilometers
Air China: CA, 6490.27 million seat kilometers
Other airlines
TOP3 in ASK
Lucky Air: 8L, 958.08 million seat kilometers
West Air: PN, 836.13 million seat kilometers
China United Airlines: KN, 789.04 million seat kilometers
3. Popular domestic routes' available seats
PEK-SHA
Beijing Capital - Shanghai Hongqiao
In February, domestic airlines had a total of 0.269 million available seats on this route.
There are 7 domestic airlines performing this route.
China Eastern Airlines, Air China and Hainan Airlines ranked top 3 in available seats on this route, which accounted for 48.8%, 28.8% and 9.4% of total capacity privided by domestic airlines.
SHA-PEK
Shanghai Hongqiao - Beijing Capital
In February, domestic airlines had a total of 0.264 million available seats on this route.
There are 7 domestic airlines performing this route.
China Eastern Airlines, Air China and Hainan Airlines ranked top 3 in available seats on this route, which accounted for 48.3%, 29.2% and 9.4% of total capacity privided by domestic airlines.
JHG-KMG
Xishuangbanna - Kunming Changshui
In February, domestic airlines had a total of 0.133 million available seats on this route.
There are 11 domestic airlines performing this route.
China Eastern Airlines, Lucky Air and Kunming Airlines ranked top 3 in available seats on this route, which accounted for 39.5%, 20.6% and 10.3% of total capacity privided by domestic airlines.
CTU-PEK
Chengdu Shuangliu - Beijing Capital
In February, domestic airlines had a total of 0.215 million available seats on this route.
There are 7 domestic airlines performing this route.
Air China, Sichuan Airlines and China Southern Airlines ranked top 3 in available seats on this route, which accounted for 46.9%, 23.1% and 17.8% of total capacity privided by domestic airlines.
About the data
Source: VariFlight
Duration: February 1, 2017- February 28, 2017
Domestic airlines: China mainland's airlines which have actural arrival flights in February 2017.
Passenger flights: only scheduled passenger flights are included in this report; cargo flights, business aviation flights and general aviation flights are not included.
Airline categories: VariFlight classifies domestic airlines according to their annual actural arrival flights in 2016. Airlines with over 200(inclusive) average daily flights are major domestic airlines, and airlines with under 200 average daily flights are other domestic airlines.
Actual arrival flights: the flights with actual departure and arrival time that could be monitored by VariFlight; cancelled flights are not included.
International flights: the actural arrival international flights of domestic airlines,including flights between domestic areas and international/regional areas, and flights between international/regional areas and international/regional areas.
Proportion of international flights: International flights / actural arrival flights
New routes: domestic airlines' nonstop routes which appeared in the current month but didn't appear in last month
Closed routes: domestic airlines' nonstop routes which appeared in last month but didn't appear in the current month
Net increase in the number of routes: the number of new routes - the number of closed routes
Domestic routes: routes between domestic areas.
International routes: routes between domestic areas and international/regional areas, and between international/regional areas and international/regional areas.
Available seat kilometers(ASK): Sum (available seats * flight distance)
Popular domestic routes: the routes with the biggest domestic airlines' actural arrival flights between domestic areas