In January 2018, China’s carriers registered a total turnover of 9.39 billion ton-kilometers, and passenger throughput increased by 5.7% year-on-year to 46.47 million. The on-time rate of the month reached a high of 82.05%, 8.97 percentage points higher than the same period last year, and the rate has been maintained at above 80% for four consecutive months. A total of 5,691 planes were in operation.
The growth rate of air passenger traffic in January was lower compared to the same month last year, as Spring Festival that brings heavier traffic falls in February this year while it was in January last year. Air passenger volume of domestic routes in January went up by just 6.5%, while that of international routes was down by 0.7%. In February, it is expected that there will be an increase in the number of passengers, driven by holiday traffic, and the passenger volume will resume double-digit growth.
The daily aircraft utilization rate was 9.2 hours, down by 0.4 hours from the previous year. Passenger load factor dropped by 2.6 percentage points to 80.8%, and freight load factor remained at 71.3%. Among the 5,691 planes in operation, 3,300 were for carrying passengers or freight, and the remaining 2,391 for other purposes.
