National civil aviation implements the 2026/2027 winter-spring flight season plan

China's national civil aviation is implementing the 2026/2027 winter-spring flight season plan from October 25, 2026 to March 27, 2027. According to a China Tourism News report on October 23, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines are launching and adding frequency on routes in the new season, focusing capacity on the "ice and snow tourism, cold-escape tourism" directions: China Eastern Airlines has more than 700 domestic routes, able to fly to 12 stations in Xinjiang and 14 stations in the three northeastern provinces; China Southern Airlines is launching multiple new routes at its Guangzhou, Beijing Daxing and Urumqi hubs. Data from Umetrip shows that in the new season the planned domestic flight volume increases by about 7% year on year, outbound increases by more than 12%, and inbound increases by about 13%. Pinchain Tourism reported on October 26 that in the new season 216 domestic and foreign airlines plan to arrange 116,000 passenger and cargo flights per week, of which 61 domestic airlines arrange 94,000 domestic flights per week, and 191 international airlines connect 85 countries and arrange 21,812 international flights per week. A China Tourism News report on October 27 added that international passenger flight volume with 15 major inbound tourist source countries including Singapore and Malaysia increased by 14.4% year on year. Pinchain Tourism reported on October 30 that the total annual inbound and outbound personnel at the Beijing Daxing International Airport port exceeded 5 million person-times, reaching this level 12 days earlier than last year; this year more than 900,000 foreign nationals entered through this port, up about 36% year on year, of which visa-free foreign entrants accounted for nearly 80%; at the end of October Daxing Airport implements the winter-spring flight season plan, with an average of about 105 planned international and Hong Kong/Macao/Taiwan flights per day. Another Pinchain Tourism report the same day said that China Southern Airlines in the 2026 winter-spring season is launching and adding frequency on multiple international routes; on October 12 it already opened the Guangzhou-Changsha-Addis Ababa route, the only route by a Chinese airline to Ethiopia; in September it resumed the Guangzhou-Delhi route, and in the new season it will open the Guangzhou-Jeju Island route and add frequency on Guangzhou to Perth, Auckland, Christchurch, Sydney, Melbourne, Vancouver and other routes. The new season plan has now entered the implementation stage.