Photo: Courtesy of Beijing Daxing International Airport

Driven by surging travel demand, airports across China continue to experience strong growth in inbound and outbound passenger flows during the summer travel rush.

Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport reported sustained high passenger flows since the summer travel season began in July 2025. 

According to the airport's Thursday information, it handled a total of 304,000 inbound and outbound passengers from July 1 to 31—setting a new monthly record since the resumption of international and regional flights.

Thanks to favorable national policies facilitating cross-border travel, Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) has maintained robust growth in summer, handling on average 50,000 international and regional passengers each day.

On August 6, the airport's annual international and regional passenger flows surpassed 10 million—30 days earlier than in the previous year. In a Thursday statement, the airport projected that the year-end total is expected to exceed 17 million passengers.

BCIA offers flights to 225 destinations across 57 countries worldwide, including 97 international and regional routes. With 52 intercontinental destinations, it ranks first in China for long-haul flight connectivity.

In the first half of this year, the airport launched new routes to Oslo and Malé, while increasing flight frequencies to Stockholm, London, Milan, and other major destinations. By the end of 2025, its international and regional destinations are expected to exceed 100, further strengthening the airport's global network coverage and connectivity.

As of July 22, Beijing Daxing International Airport has handled more than 18,000 international and regional flights to date this year, and transported more than 3.17 million international and regional passengers, marking an increase of 29.49 percent over the same period last year.

It is currently the peak summer travel season, and reaching 19,200 on July 13, setting a new high for the year; on July 16, the international passenger flows for the year exceeded 3 million, achieving the target 46 days ahead of schedule.

In recent years, Beijing Daxing International Airport has been continuously expanding its international route network. Currently, the airport serves approximately 40 international and regional destinations across 24 countries and territories in Europe, the Middle East, Northeast Asia, and Southeast Asia. This includes connections to 21 Belt and Road Initiative partner countries, with direct flights operating between multiple cities in Russia, Japan, Saudi Arabia and other nations. Popular destinations include Moscow, Osaka, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, London, Casablanca, and Tashkent.

In addition to domestic carriers like China Southern, China Eastern, and Air China, 30 foreign airlines including Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines have also established operations at the airport. 

Data showed that since commencing operations, a total of 70 domestic and international airlines have operated international routes from Daxing. Notably, in January of this year, Royal Air Maroc resumed its Beijing Daxing-Casablanca route, marking the airport's first African route since the resumption of international flights and significantly reducing travel time between the two cities.

China has experienced a notable rise in inbound tourists during the first half of 2025, largely attributable to its liberalized visa policies - particularly the significant expansion of its visa-exemption programs.

Foreign nationals made a total of 38.05 million trips to or from China in the first six months of the year, which was an increase of 30.2 percent year on year, the National Immigration Administration (NIA) said recently. Of the trips, 13.64 million were visa-free entries, an increase of 53.9 percent from the same period last year, the NIA said.


Global Times