In the first half of 2026, China’s international air routes handled more than 40 million passenger journeys, representing a year-on-year increase of 5.7%. International air cargo and mail volume reached 2.32 million tonnes, up 13.9% from the same period last year.
Chinese airlines now operate more than 1,000 scheduled international routes, connecting the country with 177 cities across 80 countries on five continents. The “Air Silk Road” continues to expand, covering 125 cities in 60 countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative. This increasingly extensive aviation network is providing strong support for China’s foreign relations and international trade, while facilitating the movement of people between China and the rest of the world.
Against this broader expansion in international air connectivity, TravelDaily Institute’s 2026 Annual Business Travel Report reveals a particularly strong concentration of cross-border business travel flows within Asia.
The “Asian Gravity” of Cross-Border Business Travel and Supply-Chain Collaboration
Regional concentration: Among the top 20 cross-border routes, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Hanoi, and Seoul occupy leading positions. This is not only the result of geographic distance, but also the logic of industrial chains.
Driver analysis: These flows confirm the “near-shore” nature of Chinese companies’ overseas expansion. Supply-chain collaboration, capacity spillover, and regional headquarters interaction within the pan-Asian economic circle are the strongest engines of the current recovery in cross-border business travel.
The following graph shows the top 20 domestic and cross-border business travel air routes in China. High-tier cities continue to lead, while the domestic market displays a clear super-long-tail distribution.
Access the report summary: https://wj.qq.com/s2/26333979/0aa8/
Order the full report: https://wj.qq.com/s2/26101148/3ozn/
