China’s ‘Big Three’ see decline in June domestic traffic again

China’s three largest carriers saw their domestic passenger traffic in June shrink for third time on a month-on-month basis, despite reporting decent gains compared to a year ago. The ‘Big Three’ — comprising Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines — also saw overall traffic in the first half of the year grow compared to a year ago, when much of China was placed under strict lockdown at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Air China carried 6.2m domestic passengers in June, a 39% increase year on year. Compared to May, the Star Alliance carrier saw domestic passenger numbers slide 25%. Domestic traffic grew 42% year on year, but shrank early 27% compared to May. Capacity rose 31.5% compared to the same month in 2020, but fell nearly 23% month on month. The Beijing-based carrier reported a domestic passenger load factor of 72.5%, a five percentage point increase compared to 2020. However, this was 4.1 percentage points lower than May. On a half-yearly basis, the ‘Big Three’ reported respectable increases in traffic on their domestic networks. Air China carried around 38m passengers in the six months to 30 June, representing a 69% rise year on year. Story has details of other carrier results.<br/>