CHINA’S air passenger numbers in the first quarter jumped 68.9% from a year earlier, pointing to a steady recovery of the country’s economy.

China’s civil aviation industry handled 129 million trips in the first three months of the year, rebounding to 80% of the traffic recorded in the same period in 2019 and expanding 51% compared with the final quarter of 2022, the country’s top aviation regulator said in a press conference yesterday.

Domestic airline routes saw 126 million trips in the first quarter, a 66.6% growth from a year ago and 88.6% of the traffic level seen in the same quarter in 2019.

International routes saw 2.24 million trips in the first three months, an eight-fold surge from a year earlier, but only 12.4% of the level recorded in the first quarter of 2019.

(SD-Agencies)