Domestic travel curbs punish China’s ‘Big Three’ traffic recovery

China’s three largest carriers started the year with domestic traffic continuing to decline, amid travel restrictions imposed to curb a resurgence in local coronavirus cases. The ‘Big Three’ — comprising Air China, China Eastern and China Southern — each carried far fewer domestic passengers in January compared to numbers reported a year ago, as well as in December 2020. Capacity and traffic, measured in ASKs and RPKs respectively, also shrank. In January, Air China carried 4.36m domestic passengers, a 41% decline year on year. Domestic RPKs fell 42% year on year, while domestic capacity fell 28% year on year. As for China Eastern, it carried 5.1m domestic passengers, representing a 39% year-on-year drop. Domestic capacity fell 22%, while traffic shrank 37% year on year. China Southern flew 6m domestic passengers in January, a 37% decline year on year. Domestic RPKs for the month declined nearly 40%, with ASKs shrinking by about 30% compared to January 2020. On a month-on-month basis, the ‘Big Three’ also reported declines in traffic and capacity. <br/>