Widely watched airfares in China are recovering to pre-pandemic levels as domestic tourists lead a patchy air travel recovery, scattering crumbs of hope to a shattered global travel sector.
Economy-class airfares for trips over the Labour Day holiday in early May have risen 11per cent compared with 2019 levels, says Ctrip, run by online travel giant Trip.com Group Ltd. There are signs the United States, a close second in domestic capacity, is following a similar trajectory months behind China as vaccination rates rise, case numbers fall and airlines add more flights.
Chinese carriers are scheduled to operate 20.7per cent more domestic flights from April to October compared with 2019, according to flight master, a Chinese aviation data provider.