“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, China’s aviation industry has recorded a first quarter loss of 39.8 billion yuan ($5.6 billion) of which the airlines in the industry combine to hold a 84% share of that loss, amounting to 33.6 billion yuan($4.7billion),” said a spokesperson of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) at a press conference held in Beijing on Wednesday.

In March, the region’s aviation industry completed a total of 417,000 flight hours with a YoY decrease of 58.8%. Passenger transport volume was recorded at 15.13 million passengers, with a YoY decrease of 71.7% and cargo and mail transportation volume came in at 484,000 tons with a YoY decrease of 23.4%. A total of 206,600 flights of various types were executed, with an average of 6,535 flights per day, and an average daily decrease of 58.6%. The national flight regularity rate is 96.8%. It is worth mentioning that the freight volume of all cargo aircraft increased against the trend, with a total of 253,000 tons, an increase of 28.4% over the same period last year.

With the orderly resumption of work and production nationwide and the reopening of industries within the region, the flight volume in March has recovered, but it may continue to operate at a low level in the near future as forecasted by the CAAC.