Aviation sector records 16% rise in domestic passenger trips

Though reeling from the novel coronavirus outbreak, China's civil aviation sector began taking a turn for the better as positive signs are emerging in the country's battle against the epidemic, according to Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Statistics from the administration show that the civil aviation sector handled 8.34 million passenger trips in February, dropping 84.5 percent from the same period of last year. And cargo transport fell by 21 percent year-on-year to 297,000 tons last month.

The whole industry also recorded the heaviest single-month financial loss of 24.59 billion yuan (nearly $3.53 billion) over last month, 20.96 billion yuan of which came from the airlines' deficit, it added.

However, with the country expanding business operations nationwide in an orderly manner, the civil aviation authorities rolled a series of measures to facilitate the resumption of airlines and help them tide the difficult time, said Jin Junhao, an official with the administration's transport department.

Last week between March 2 and 8, the domestic passenger trips rose by 16 percent compared the same period with last month and returned to 40 percent of the normal flight capability, he said.

A large number of the passenger flights last week were returning people from the labor output regions in Southwest and Northwest China to the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta regions, he said, adding that airports in Shenzhen, Chengdu and Chongqing have resumed over 60 percent of its normal capability.

Jin also noted that the civil aviation authorities have also injected efforts to push forward resumption of major infrastructure projects construction.

As of March 11, construction of 50, or over 60 percent, of the country's 81 airport projects had resumed, according to the administration.

Among the non-resumed projects, 12 were affected by the epidemic, and 19 were in cold regions, which did not meet the conditions for construction. But 86 percent of the projects will be resumed by early April, Jin said.