China News Service, Beijing, March 28 (Reporter Liu Liang and Liu Wenwen) At the end of March this year, China’s civil aviation will usher in the flight season change for the summer season. The reporter learned from China Eastern Airlines on the 28th that in the 2024 summer flight season, China Eastern Airlines will promote the further recovery and growth of international flights.
According to the relevant person in charge of China Eastern Airlines, this summer flight season, China Eastern Airlines has invested in a total of 785 passenger aircraft in response to the steady recovery of the civil aviation market and passenger travel demand, including the world's first batch of five domestically produced large aircraft C919; the average daily flight operations are approximately 3,170, which is higher than that in 2023 The summer flight season increased by 7.9%, an increase of 11.5% compared with the same period in 2019; the average number of international and regional flights planned per week exceeded 1,240, returning to 90.8% of the same period in 2019.
In terms of domestic routes in China, China Eastern Airlines’ newly added and enlarged route destinations are mainly concentrated in Xinjiang and popular tourist cities in southwest and south China. It will newly open Shanghai Pudong to Korla, Jiayuguan, Kashgar, Tengchong, Lincang, and Guangzhou to Shenyang, 30 routes including Guangzhou to Dali; expanded routes from Shanghai to Shenzhen, Urumqi, Kunming, Zhuhai, Beijing to Xiamen, Zhuhai, Sanya, Xi'an to Xishuangbanna and other routes.
As the flight season changes, China Eastern Airlines will promote the further recovery and growth of international flights. At the beginning of the new aviation season, China Eastern Airlines planned to launch an average of 978 international flights and 264 regional flights per week, which have recovered to 88.7% and 99.2% of 2019 respectively. Judging from the recovery situation, China Eastern's flight volume to Europe, Oceania, the Middle East and other places has exceeded the level of 2019, and its routes to Hungary, Spain, Dubai, Malaysia and other countries have far exceeded the pre-epidemic level.
It is reported that China Eastern Airlines, as the world's first airline to launch the C919 domestically produced large aircraft, has all delivered the first batch of 5 aircraft. It will continue to serve passengers in the new season and operate 3 routes including Shanghai Hongqiao-Chengdu Tianfu, Shanghai Hongqiao-Beijing Daxing, and Shanghai Hongqiao-Xi'an. route, with an average of 14 flights per day. Compared with 2023, China Eastern Airlines will further optimize the C919 flight schedule during the new flight season to provide more convenience for passengers. In the future, more domestically produced passenger aircraft will appear in the China Eastern Airlines fleet. (over)