Passenger throughput bounces back in many Chinese airports

China's aviation market is resuming normal operations as the COVID-19 epidemic in the country gets under control.

Based on passenger throughput data from the first eight months of 2020, the news website 21st Century Business Herald ranked the top 10 airports in the country, and said passenger throughput growth in August showed a significant rebound compared with figures from January to August.

Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport handled 4.61 million passengers in August to take the 1st spot in the ranking, followed by Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport and Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport, with passenger throughput at 4.38 and 3.99 million respectively.

As the epidemic gets under control and bans were lifted on cross-province tourism that stimulated travelers flowing during the summer vacation, three airports in Sanya, Lijiang and Lhasa realized positive growth in passenger throughput in August.

The passenger throughput in Sanya Phoenix International Airport, Lijiang Sanyi International Airport, Lhasa Kongga International Airport increased 4.1 percent to 1.62 million, 3.4 percent to 752,500, and 8 percent to 496,600, respectively.

The passenger throughput average decline of the top 10 airports was 22.76 percent year-on-year in August.

Decreasing figures in Beijing Capital International Airport, Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, surpassed the average, at -60.6 percent, -49.4 percent, and -29.9 percent year-on-year respectively, due to other countries still reeling from the impact of the pandemic. This meant traffic on international routes could not return to normal.

The domestic aviation market expected to return to normal by the end of 2020, and would boom further as the epidemic gets under control, the 21st Century Business Herald said.