More and more flights are being canceled.
Industry monitoring shows that this latest wave of cancellations has particularly hard hit routes between Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and popular Southeast Asian destinations such as Thailand and Malaysia.
Previously, outbound travel options were relatively clear-cut. Routes to Europe and Africa had already become less viable for the mass-market travelers, as disruptions at Middle Eastern hubs and persistently high fuel costs kept airfares elevated.
Meanwhile, routes to Japan have also seen major cuts in recent weeks. Official data shows that in March alone, 53 China–Japan routes were fully suspended, with cancellation rates approaching 50%. In the first two months of 2026, the number of mainland Chinese travelers visiting Japan dropped by more than 54% year-on-year, pointing to a sharp decline in travel demand.
By comparison, Southeast Asia is now almost the only outbound segment still able of sustaining both scale and volume, and remains one of the few international destinations that most travelers can still afford.
Now, even low-cost carriers are cutting routes. This is undoubtedly a troubling signal: the golden age of China’s international travel may be quietly fading.
If outbound travel is becoming increasingly difficult, can domestic travel fill the gap? The outlook is not much more encouraging. Chinese airlines are also making deep cuts to domestic capacity.
Data from VariFlight shows that, as of April 12, the cancellation rate for China’s civil aviation passenger flights over the following week (April 13–19) had reached 15.1%. Although this is down 2 percentage points from the previous week, it reflects only currently scheduled cancellations, and the rate is likely to rise further as departure dates approach.
Looking ahead, outbound travel will remain under pressure, while long-haul domestic air travel is also likely to feel the impact. High-speed rail travel, by contrast, stands to benefit directly, with its advantages in punctuality, reliability, and lower exposure to fuel price volatility becoming even more evident.
