China's outward airline bookings reportedly remained at only 15% of pre-pandemic numbers in the week following the announcement regarding the reopening of borders, despite a 192% increase from the same period last year, as per ForwardKeys, a well-known travel data firm
Olivier Ponti, Vice President of Insights, ForwardKeys, stated that low airline bookings, high ticket prices, recent updates in pre-flight COVID-19 testing standards by many nations, as well as a backlog of visa and passport applications are posing as difficulties as the industry attempts to recover.
Some online travel providers boasted multi-fold increases in searches and bookings after the border reopening announcement on December 26 but did not give data comparing the amount of demand to 2019.
It has also been revealed that the average outgoing airfares from China were 160% more than in December 2019, despite a declining trend since June, when airline capacity was considerably lower and quarantine was necessary.
As per Cirium, the airlines are only operating at 11% of pre-pandemic global capacity in and out of China in January; but, based on the latest data, the percentage is anticipated to increase to around 25% by April.
An official from China's aviation regulator projected that by the end of the year, the worldwide market may recover to approximately 80% of 2019 capacity levels.
Ponti stated that his company anticipated a significant uptick in the Chinese outbound sector in Q2 this year as airlines booked capacity for the spring and early summer, which included the May holiday, the Dragon Boat holiday in June as well as the summer vacations.
ForwardKeys further added that Hong Kong, Macau, Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore, Taipei, Dubai, Bangkok, Frankfurt, and Abu Dhabi were the most frequently booked places to visit from China between December 26 and January 3, accounting for 67% of the reservations done for the Lunar New Year holiday timeframe between January 7 and February 15.
Source credit: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2023/1/12/chinas-flight-bookings-way-down-despite-reopening-data-shows