China sees record-high air traffic in Q3

BEIJING, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- China's civil aviation sector reported record quarterly transport figures, data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) showed Friday.

In the third quarter of this year, the total transport turnover, passenger trips, as well as cargo and mail transport volume in the country's civil aviation sector rose 19.8 percent, 12.3 percent and 19.4 percent year on year.

In Q3, the passenger trips reached 200 million. Of the total, domestic routes registered 180 million passenger trips, up 8.3 percent year on year; international routes recorded more than 18.2 million trips, surging 78 percent year on year, the data showed.

Since July, international passenger trips on Chinese airlines have recovered to over 90 percent of the same period in 2019 for three consecutive months.

According to the CAAC, the civil aviation market's freight volume exceeded 2.3 million tonnes during the period, with domestic and international freight transport increasing by 12.9 percent and 30.1 percent year on year, respectively.

By the end of the third quarter, China had a fleet of 4,352 civil aviation transport aircraft, the CAAC added.