Air China Group: number of air passengers 2010-2022

The number of air passengers carried by Air China Group steadily increased before the COVID-19 pandemic, peaking at 115 million in 2019. Since 2020, however, the passenger number of the Chinese flag carrier along with its major subsidiaries decreased by more than 66 percent, to 38.61 million in 2022.

Transportation of cargo and mail

In 2020, the volume of cargo and mail carried by Air China Group amounted to 1.1 million metric tons, accounting for 16.2 percent of the total air cargo volume in China. In 2020, China experienced a negative air cargo volume growth rate of 10.2 percent, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As for the Air China Group, the volume of transported cargo showed a negative growth of 22 percent in 2020.

Leading passenger airline groups in China

In 2020, the leading airline groups worldwide based on passenger numbers was dominated by three prominent Chinese airlines: China Southern, China Eastern, and Air China. China Southern Airlines was the number one passenger carrier within China and worldwide, carrying 96.85 million customers in 2020—with nearly 97 percent of those passengers traveling within mainland China. China Eastern Airlines carried 74.62 million passengers in 2020, making it the third-largest airline in the world and the second-largest airline in China. That same year, Air China carried 68.69 million passengers, ranking fourth among global airlines and third among Chinese airlines.