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All flights on 58 routes between China and Japan were canceled during the first week of the 40-day travel period for the Chinese New Year holiday. Many travelers chose alternative destinations such as South Korea and Southeast Asian countries instead.
The number of round-trip flights on China-Japan routes dropped by 1,292 in the first week of the Lunar New Year travel season that started on February 2, compared to the previous year, according to recent data from a flight analytics provider.
Most cancellations occurred on routes from Chinese cities to Osaka. All 67 flights from Beijing Daxing International Airport, 20 from Ningbo Lishe International Airport, and 20 from Shenyang Taoxian International Airport to Osaka’s Kansai International Airport were suspended. The largest decline in flight numbers was on routes from Shanghai Pudong International Airport to Kansai and Tokyo’s Narita International Airport.
The high cancellation rate for flights to Kansai is primarily because most Chinese travelers going there are tourists. In contrast, travelers heading to cities like Tokyo tend to do so for business, making them less likely to alter their plans, an industry insider previously explained.
Routes from secondary cities launched after the COVID-19 pandemic, such as Dalian-Chubu, Qingdao-Shizuoka, and Shanghai-Okayama, have also been gradually eliminated. Flights from China to airports in Sendai, Ibaraki, Niigata, Toyama, Komatsu, Kobe, Okayama, Saga, Nagasaki, and Kagoshima in Japan have been entirely canceled.
The widespread cancellations stem from a significant drop in passengers after more than a dozen Chinese airlines, including the country’s three largest state-owned carriers—China Eastern, China Southern Airlines, and Air China—offered free refunds and rescheduling options for flights to Japan booked between November 15 and December 31. This move followed China’s advisory for citizens to avoid traveling there amid tense diplomatic relations.
Booking requests for flights to Japan from Chinese airlines plummeted by 543,000 on November 18 compared to November 15. Within just three days of offering free refunds and rebookings, over half a million tickets were canceled, according to an aviation analyst.
Data from the Japan National Tourism Organization showed that Chinese visitors in Japan decreased by 45 percent in December compared to the same period the previous year.
As a result, South Korea became the top destination for flights from China by mid-December. During the first week of the Chinese New Year travel rush, routes from Shanghai Pudong to Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Seoul saw the highest number of flights. Additionally, routes from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport to Kuala Lumpur, and from Shanghai Pudong to Hanoi and Kuala Lumpur, each added more than 20 flights.
Over the first 10 days of the holiday, Seoul, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur remained the most popular destinations, with passenger numbers to Seoul increasing by 12 percent compared to last year, according to data from China Eastern. Flights from Shanghai to Seoul and Busan maintained load factors above 80 percent, with some exceeding 95 percent.
Furthermore, Thailand is expected to surpass Japan as the most preferred outbound destination for Chinese travelers during the Lunar New Year holiday, based on booking data from several travel platforms.
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