Although China’s aviation industry was the first to suffer from the global health crisis a year ago, aggressive blockages and travel restrictions have allowed its airlines to resume travel and restore routes at a faster pace. One of the country’s largest airlines, China Eastern Airlines, recently reached a major milestone, claiming that its fleet of aircraft in Shanghai is now at zero.
Aircraft use on the rise
According to the Global Times, which received the news directly from China Eastern, the size of the fleet on land at the airline’s base in Shanghai has dropped to zero. Although the airline has operations at Shanghai’s two main airports – Hongqiao (SHA) and Pudong (PVG), it was not specified which Shanghai base had landed all of its aircraft.
Through some research based on data from the China Eastern aircraft parked list on Planespotters.net, it appears that there are still some ‘parked’ jets at both Shanghai airports. However, although now listed as parked, the jets were flying recently in February.
Regardless of the specific airport, the news is a general indication that the country’s aviation market continues to recover.
The volume of passenger flights is expected to increase
The Global Times notes that the average daily volume of passenger flights from China Eastern has now recovered to approximately 2,400. However, an increase is expected in the coming weeks, with the Qingming Festival taking place in April and the Labor Day (Labor Day) holiday the following month.
The carrier reports that it has plans to add flights for this expected increase. The increase in services will support travel between cities like Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu.
The two Shanghai centers of China Eastern
Looking at the available flight data, it appears that China Eastern uses both Hongqiao and Pudong almost equally. With RadarBox.com’s “heat map” tool, we can see that Hongqiao recorded 198 aircraft movements a day, with Pudong right behind him with 181.4.
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Using the FlightRadar24.com route tool, we can see how the airline uses the two airports in different ways. Shanghai Hongqiao is used exclusively for services within the country, while Pudong is used much more as a base for long-distance transcontinental operations. It is from Shanghai Pudong that the airline offers flights to North America, Europe, Oceania and South-Southeast Asia.
According to data from Worldometers.com’s COVID-19, it appears that, at least in the past few weeks, China has reduced its new daily case count to less than 20 a day. Some days, that number is as low as five. Hopefully, the rest of the world can follow suit as vaccination programs continue to be implemented.
What do you think of the recovery of China’s aviation market? How long will it take for other countries to see similar results? Let us know your opinion by leaving a comment.