The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has published figures showing that the Chinese commercial aviation market is robust and growing! These figure came in a report examining the traffic numbers for 2023, and making predictions for 2024.
Highlights from the CAAC report include:
- 2023 domestic commercial flight volumes exceeded 2019 (pre-Covid) volumes by 1.5%, and are expected to keep growing.
- International passenger flights recover from less than 500 flights per week at the beginning of the year to more than 4,600 flights per week by the end.
- Passenger traffic between China and Europe has recovered to more than 60% of the pre-Covid level.
- Regular direct flights between China and the United States have increased to 63 flights per week.
- In 2023, Chinese civil aviation transported 620 million passengers.
- In 2024, CAAC predicts that Chinese civil aviation will transport 630 million passengers on domestic routes, and will increase international flights to 6000 per week by the end of 2024.
In the Report, CAAC touted its efforts to reform the supply chain for aviation. We’ve seen evidence of this in the cooperation between CAAC and international trade associations like ASA and AFRA. CAAC also stressed its focus on safety management (an example of which can be seen in their new Part 145 regulations, which included an SMS requirement).
From the CAAC Report, it appears that the Chinese aviation market has grown and will continue to grow. There is an opportunity for aircraft parts manufacturing companies to support this growth. MARPA will be collaborating on a PMA Management Conference in Guangzhou China in March. If you are selling parts into the Chinese market then this is an important event that you cannot miss. If you haven’t yet entered the Chinese market but you want to, then this conference is an important opportunity to start making the contacts you need to enter that market.