Editor's note
With the arrival of the Year of the Dragon, 2023 is a thing of the past. As we bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, we start with the hot people in 2023 or ordinary people in the hot industry, look at the economic situation of the past year through the perspective of the series of characters, and foresee 2024 from it.
Chapter VII Civil Aviation Industry
The Year of the Dragon is expected to be the busiest in history, with captains and pilots flying over their hometowns on New Year's Day with maps and family members greeting the New Year, while others are busy transporting food and ...... from all over the worldDuring the Chinese New Year, the reporter of Beijing Youth Daily interviewed those pilots who still fly on Chinese New Year's Eve and the first day of the new year, and the operation of airports in big cities and small cities, from which they predicted the state of the aviation industry in 2024.
Airliner Pilot:
On the first day of the new year, I flew over my hometown and lived on the map to send blessings
The number of civil aviation passengers transported during the Spring Festival in the Year of the Dragon is expected to hit a record high, popular routes and airports are facing greater pressure, and the weather is complex and changeable. Civil aviation pilots are also faced with more complex environments and more missions than usual. A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily interviewed some captains of Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines who flew on Chinese New Year's Eve and the first day of the new year.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year (February 10), Air China's "First Flight of the Year of the Dragon" theme flight CA975 received an order from the tower of the Capital Airport: "Runway 01, can take off." "Flight CA975 took off from Beijing Capital International Airport and flew to Singapore.
The Air China CA975 crew that flew the "first flight of the Year of the Dragon".
Lei Guangfa, the captain of the flight, sent New Year greetings to the passengers through the in-flight announcement: "It is a great pleasure to meet you on this flight on the first day of the Year of the Dragon. Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year, and this flight is also the first flight of Air China from Beijing Capital International Airport in the Year of the Dragon. ”
Captain Wang Zhenglong is conducting a pre-flight inspection.
Wang Zhenglong, a pilot of China Eastern Airlines, participates in the Spring Festival flight guarantee every year. "During the Spring Festival, in addition to the rapid increase in the number of passengers, there is also a peculiarity that runs in winter, flying north with ice and snow, and flying south to prevent thunderstorms." On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Wang Zhenglong got up at 4 o'clock, simply packed up and rushed to the airport to make various preparations. He flew the Nanjing-Beijing route, and shortly after taking off from Nanjing, he passed through Jining, and he saw the four-character ** "zsjg" of Jining Airport, and his hand involuntarily clicked on the map, which was his hometown. Because of the particularity of his work, he had to undertake a mission, and he silently said "I wish the whole family a happy new year" in his heart, and flew over his hometown.
Captain Gu Yanhu was in the cockpit.
Gu Yanhu, the captain of China Eastern Airlines, in addition to daily flights, also participates in the department's flight technology seminars, courseware writing and teaching, and implements the responsibilities of the captain and instructor to "pass, help and lead". Every year on Chinese New Year's Eve and the first day of the new year, Gu Yanhu and other crew members will take a group photo before passengers board the passengers, and this group photo has a lot in his mobile phone, and this year is no exception.
Freighter Pilot:
Food and good things from all over the world are also catching up with the "Spring Festival".
During the Spring Festival, it is not only the passengers of passenger planes who transport passengers, but also the pilots of cargo planes.
Zhang Ling, the pilot of China Southern Airlines Cargo*** under China Southern Airlines Logistics, is always very busy during the Spring Festival. On February 7, Zhang Ling's China Southern Airlines B777 cargo plane took off from New York Airport, loaded with Chilean cherries and North American lobsters, and arrived in Guangzhou 15 hours later, delivered to the tables of the domestic people, adding a new year's flavor to the Spring Festival.
Zhang Ling, captain of China Southern Airlines' B777 freighter.
From passenger planes to cargo planes, Captain Zhang Ling, who has been flying for 28 years, said: "The Spring Festival is not only about passenger flow, but also about the 'Spring Festival Tide' with delicious food and good food from all over the world." He has a unique perspective on air logistics, "Cross-border e-commerce breaks down geographical restrictions and enables consumers to easily shop online for goods from all over the world. During the Spring Festival, especially Chinese immigrants living overseas, prefer a variety of Chinese New Year peripheral products from their hometowns, which increases the demand for international air cargo. At the same time, international air cargo provides a fast and reliable mode of transportation for cross-border e-commerce to meet the requirements of e-commerce enterprises for fast delivery, which can be regarded as the mutual achievement of cross-border e-commerce and international air freight. ”
At the same time, flowers from Amsterdam, cherries from Chile, seafood from North America, red wine from France, pine nuts from Pakistan and other goods have also entered the domestic market through the flights of China Southern Airlines Logistics.
Large airports:
In 2023, a number of records reached new highs
Looking back on 2023, the big airports of "big cities" have set a number of "record highs".
On April 29, 2023, Capital International Airport and Daxing International Airport guaranteed a total of 2,120 flights and 34 passengers690,000 person-times. The number of guaranteed flights and passengers on that day hit a new high in the history of Beijing Civil Airport. On August 6, the single-day passenger volume of Daxing International Airport exceeded 150,000 for the first time, setting a record since the opening of flights. Daxing International Airport has more than 30 international and regional routes, connecting major aviation markets in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and other regions, including London, Moscow, Doha, Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Macao and other popular routes.
Sanya Phoenix International Airport, which has attracted much attention, handled 85,002 passengers on January 27, 2024, setting a historical record for single-day passenger throughput since the opening of aviation. From July 1 to 31, 2023, Sanya Airport guaranteed 11,315 flights and transported 179 passengers80,000 passengers, setting a record for a single month of summer transportation since the opening of Sanya Airport. As of December 6, 2023, the cumulative passenger throughput for the year reached 20.19 million, breaking a record high. A total of 12 guaranteed transport flights take off and land60,000 flights, marking that Sanya Airport has once again entered the ranks of "20 million-level airports".
On December 7, 2023, the cumulative annual passenger throughput of Shuangliu International Airport and Tianfu International Airport, Chengdu's aviation hubs, officially exceeded 70 million, a record high. Chengdu has become the fourth "70 million-level aviation city" in Chinese mainland after Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.
Small airports:
Lunar New Year air ticket bookings have skyrocketed
The number of air ticket bookings in "small airport" cities across the country has increased significantly. Small airports refer to airports located in third-tier cities and below, except for well-known tourist cities such as Lijiang and Dali, and the number of such airports is 186 in the country.
According to Qunar data, air ticket bookings to these "small airports" between February 10 and 12, 2014 increased nearly twice as much as in 2023, doubling the overall air ticket growth. Among them, the growth rate of Foshan has reached more than 7 times, Yanji has reached 4 times, and Ordos has reached 35 times, Pu'er reaches 34 times.
Due to the perfect transportation facilities, the location of these "small airports" has increased significantly in hotel bookings during the Spring Festival, becoming a cost-effective destination for this year's Spring Festival. The number of Spring Festival hotel bookings in Shigatse, Jingdezhen, Weihai, Quanzhou, Datong, Luoyang, Mudanjiang and other "small airport" cities increased by 1 year-on-year in 20237 times. During the peak hotel occupancy period on the second day of the Lunar New Year, the hotel bookings in Jingdezhen on that day increased by 6% year-on-year in 20232 times, Shangrao increased by more than 6 times, Datong and Baoshan increased by 48 times, Luoyang increased by 45 times.
Even during the Spring Festival, the number of hotel bookings in Foshan surpassed that of Qingdao, that of Quanzhou surpassed that of provincial capitals such as Shenyang and Guiyang, and that of Luoyang exceeded that of Taiyuan. In Anyang, Henan, Xiangxi, Hunan and other newly opened airport cities this year, hotel bookings for the Spring Festival have also increased by more than 1 times compared with last year.
Civil Aviation Authority:
Theme activities specifically address the "pain points" of passenger travel
Reduce flight cancellations and delays, optimize in-flight meals** mode, and provide in-flight ground-to-air communication and Internet services, ......In 2023, the Civil Aviation Administration of China will carry out the theme activity of "Civil Aviation Service Helps the Industry Recovery Year", which is also the eighth time that the theme activity has been carried out in the industry. The focus of the theme activity is "I do practical things for the masses", and special governance is carried out for the "pain points" such as flight punctuality rate and bridge docking rate that passengers are concerned about.
In terms of reducing flight cancellations and delays, we will deepen the special governance of flight cancellations, urge airlines to strengthen the research and judgment of market, operation and other factors, rationally pre-sell the number of flights, scientifically arrange flight plans, and further reduce the flight cancellation rate. In 2023, the flight regularity rate of domestic passenger airlines should be stable at more than 80%.
Launched the "Optimized Inflight Meal** Model" to encourage airlines to strengthen cooperation with catering merchants in the terminal to provide passengers with services such as meal delivery and boarding gate pick-up. Innovatively launched a series of first-ride service products, expanding the application scenarios to international flights, so that the results of first-ride service can benefit more people. Launched "civil aviation + tourism" service products, focusing on the deep integration of civil aviation and tourism, strengthening cooperation with local ** and online sales platforms, and launching more product portfolios such as air tickets + hotels + scenic spots. Encourage airlines, airports and tourism enterprises to share resources, and provide passengers with one-stop, integrated air travel services.
In addition, the Civil Aviation Administration of China launched the "Special Rectification to Improve the Bridge Docking Rate of Tens of Millions of Airport Flights". Li Yong, deputy director of the Aviation Safety Office of the Civil Aviation Administration, said that after the special rectification of the bridge rate of tens of millions of airport flights, the average bridge rate increased by 341 percentage points, a total of 150,000 more bridge-based flights, benefiting 22.39 million passengers. The average bridge rate of the 13 international hub airports ranged from 7459% to 8053%, an increase of 594 percentage points. Among them, 9 airports, including Beijing Capital, Beijing Daxing, Harbin, Chengdu Shuangliu, Chengdu Tianfu, Guangzhou, Kunming, Shanghai Hongqiao and Xi'an, have increased their flight berth rates by more than 5 percentage pointsAmong them, the bridge rate of flights at Capital Airport increased by more than 15 percentage points, and the bridge rate of passengers reached 81%.
Half two observations:
After the recovery period, 2024 will usher in a "big year for aviation".
In the past year, relevant data released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China shows that the civil aviation industry will recover the fastest among all modes of transportation in 2023. Within one year, the passenger volume of domestic routes increased by 1 compared to 20195%。The total transportation turnover of the whole industry is 1188300 million ton-kilometers, passenger traffic 6200 million person-times, cargo and mail transportation volume 73540,000 tons, a year-on-year increase.
The data also shows that in 2023, the daily utilization rate of aircraft in China will be 81 hour, an increase of 3 year-on-year8 hours;The load factor of the regular class is 779%, load factor 677%, an increase of 11 year-on-year3 percentage points, 27 percentage points;The industry-wide loss was significantly reduced by 187.2 billion yuan. The annual flight regularity rate reached 878%。The investment in fixed assets was 115 billion yuan, exceeding 100 billion yuan for four consecutive yearsThe total number of transport airports reached 259, with a total capacity of 15600 million people.
At the National Civil Aviation Work Conference, the relevant person in charge of the Civil Aviation Administration said that in 2024, civil aviation is expected to complete a total transportation turnover, passenger traffic and cargo and mail transportation volume of 136 billion ton-kilometers, 6900 million passengers and 7.6 million tons, which are expected to increase by about % and 3% year-on-year, respectively. Among them, China's domestic passenger traffic will continue to grow steadily, and it is expected that the annual domestic passenger traffic will reach 6300 million people, more than 77 percentage points;The recovery of the international passenger market will be accelerated, and it is expected to reach about 6,000 flights per week by the end of 2024, recovering to about 80% of the pre-pandemic level.
According to the relevant data and indicators of the global civil aviation passenger transport industry in 2023 released by the International Air Transport Association, the global aviation industry will maintain a recovery trend in 2023, with a year-on-year increase of 369%, further approaching pre-pandemic levels. Among them, international passenger traffic increased by 41% year-on-year6%, close to 90% of pre-pandemic levels, and domestic passenger traffic increased by 30% year-on-year4%, which is already above the pre-pandemic level. In particular, driven by the Chinese market, global air passenger traffic has increased significantly.
Although the recovery of the aviation industry needs to be resilient and may be affected by many external factors such as the global economic situation, geopolitical conflicts and the tension of the ** chain in the future, it is still believed that with the further recovery of domestic business and personal travel, the number of global passenger trips is also expected to further exceed the new high since 2019.
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Text: Beijing Youth Daily reporter Lin Lishuang.
Edited by Fan Hongwei.