The winter-spring flight season began on the designated day. With the arrival of the new flight season, today's aviation stocks collectively turned red. However, after passing through the last peak season of the year, the National Day holiday, the aviation industry, which had a profitable third quarter, is now facing the traditional off-season.

In the final quarter of this year, domestic airlines have focused their efforts on international routes. According to data disclosed by the Civil Aviation Administration, from October to March, the national civil aviation industry began to implement the / winter-spring flight schedule, with a total of 135 domestic and foreign airlines planning to arrange 110,000 passenger and cargo flights per week, a year-on-year increase of 1.35%. Among them, international passenger flights increased year-on-year, while domestic passenger flights decreased.

According to statistics from Flight Master, during the winter-spring flight season, the weekly planned flight volume for civil aviation passenger flights showed a decrease of .% domestically, an increase of .% internationally, and a decrease of .% in the Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan regions. Ctrip also believes that airlines are more inclined to restore international routes in the new flight season. Among them, Southeast Asian flights accounted for .%, with the average weekly volume further increasing; the planned flight volume for flights to and from Africa and West Asia (such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey) exceeded that of the same period in the previous year.

It is noteworthy that the focus of international routes is currently undergoing changes. According to data from the Civil Aviation Administration, the new flight season has approved weekly passenger and cargo flight plans from domestic and international airlines, covering flights to countries outside China, including weekly flights to "Belt and Road" countries, accounting for .%. For example, Air China plans to open flights from Urumqi to Tbilisi, Beijing to Almaty, Tashkent, Cairo, and Chengdu to Almaty in the new flight season.

However, compared to the pre-pandemic year, the recovery of international routes in the new flight season is still not "fully restored." The planned number of flights has decreased by .% compared to the previous winter-spring season, which is related to the slower-than-expected recovery of traditional European and American markets. According to statistics from Flight Manager, the number of Southeast Asian routes in the new season still has a certain gap compared to the same period in the previous year, and the number of North American routes is less than half of the winter-spring season. Although Europe has the most direct flight connections, it has reduced the number of flight connections by compared to the same period.

For European and American routes, Chinese airlines are fully restoring and even applying for new additions, such as China Eastern Airlines' flights to Europe, Oceania, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, which have all exceeded the levels of the same period last year; while foreign airlines are recovering slowly or temporarily withdrawing due to reasons such as detouring around Russia. In the new flight season, the proportion of international routes operated by domestic airlines has increased to .%, far higher than historical levels, while the proportion of flights operated by foreign airlines has dropped to .%, further shrinking their market share.

Behind the domestic airlines' fierce competition on international routes lies the intensification of domestic market in-fighting, especially in the traditional business line market dominated by wide-body aircraft. According to statistics from Flight Master, the busiest city lines in the new flight season involve cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Chongqing, and Hangzhou, with routes related to Beijing. Once dubbed the "golden route" for airlines, the Beijing-Shanghai route ranks first in weekly frequency, with an average of daily flights, followed by the Beijing-Chengdu route, averaging daily flights.

The competition among the ten urban routes is quite intense, with the number of carriers ranging from dozens to hundreds, including over a hundred on the Shanghai-Shenzhen route and as many as on the Beijing-Chengdu route. At a recent market discussion meeting of the China Aviation Association, an expert participant even stated that due to overlapping with high-speed rail lines, the civil aviation market is gradually shrinking, and the once prestigious "Beijing-Shanghai Line" has now almost become a "chicken bone" route.

According to analysis by Ctrip, in the new flight season, domestic routes have significantly increased flights to popular winter tourist destinations such as Xinjiang, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Hainan, Guangdong, Henan, Yunnan, etc.; among the airports with passenger throughput exceeding ten million, Ningbo, Zhengzhou, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai Hongqiao, Haikou, Changsha, etc., have seen notable growth in flight volume.

On the Qunar platform, the number of domestic flights to Northeast China, Xinjiang, and Hainan has also increased significantly year-on-year. Cities like Harbin and Altay are popular destinations this year, with Haikou and Sanya being particularly hot in winter. However, the ticket prices for flights to Northeast China, Xinjiang, and Hainan have decreased year-on-year.

The Civil Aviation Administration also revealed that in the new season, a total of airlines have scheduled a total of weekly flights on newly opened domestic exclusive routes, with the number of newly opened exclusive routes increasing by .% year-on-year. These routes focus on connecting tourist destination branch airports such as Xiangxi, Aksu, Hotan, Hami, and Kashgar with hub airports such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Shenzhen, enhancing the trunk-branch connection and branch routes.

It is noteworthy that, driven by the summer travel season and other peak tourism periods, the overall revenue level of airlines increased by % quarter-on-quarter and the average ticket price level increased by .% quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter. According to data disclosed by the China Air Transport Association, benefiting from strong demand and the appreciation of the RMB, airlines achieved a total profit of . billion yuan in the first three quarters, a year-on-year increase of .%, with a cumulative total of airlines realizing profitability.

However, the CAAC also pointed out that the domestic market is currently facing issues such as intense competition, significant diversion from surrounding international hubs, increased impact from high-speed rail on civil aviation, and high asset-liability ratios among airlines. It is recommended that the next step should focus on improving operational efficiency and continuing to enhance bilateral air rights negotiations with key European and American countries.