Passengers stand at the Beijing Daxing International Airport on March 27, 2026. Photo: Courtesy of Beijing Daxing International Airport

China's civil aviation sector kicked off the summer-autumn 2026 flight season on Sunday, with more international routes, including to India being planned, and expanded C919 flight services. 

During the new season, Air China will increase flight frequencies on more than 10 routes, including Beijing-Warsaw, Milan, and Budapest, launch two new international routes—Chongqing-Manila and Wenzhou-Jeju, and resume the Beijing-Delhi route, according to information shared by the company with the Global Times. 

China Eastern Airlines resumed the route from Shanghai to Delhi in November of 2025, making it the first Chinese airline to resume passenger services between the two markets after a five-year hiatus. 

In addition, the carriers are expanding C919 flight services. China Southern Airlines told the Global Times that it plans to operate C919 regular flights on eight routes, including Guangzhou-Beijing Daxing, Xi'an, Ningbo, Nanjing, Wuhan, Wenzhou, as well as Changsha-Beijing Daxing and Xi'an. 

Since the home-produced C919 entered commercial service with China Southern Airlines, it has already connected 19 cities, the carrier said.

Meanwhile, Air China will add two new destinations—Harbin and Xiamen—for its C919 fleet during the new flight season, further expanding the operational network of the domestically made aircraft.

China Eastern said that during the new flight season, the total number of routes served by China Eastern's C919 fleet will reach 19, covering 16 airports in 14 cities, including two airports in Shanghai and two airports in Beijing. 

Beijing Daxing International Airport said the average daily flight volume is expected to reach 1,012 flights, representing a year-on-year increase of 3.79 percent. A total of 44 airlines are expected to operate at the airport, with plans to connect 133 domestic destinations and 44 international and regional destinations.

In Beijing, Cathay Pacific and HK Express, both under the Cathay Group, will operate a total of nine round-trip flights daily between Hong Kong and Beijing's two major international airports.

A total of 222 domestic and international airlines plan to operate 121,000 passenger and cargo flights per week during the new flight season, roughly flat compared with the same period last year, news portal caacnews.com.cn reported on Sunday, citing data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

On international routes, a total of 191 airlines plan to operate 21,047 international flights per week, a 1.8 percent increase over the same period last year, serving 86 countries, with Cyprus being a newly added destination, the report said. 

In addition, Chinese airlines are adding more flights into Europe. 

On Sunday, China Southern Airlines held the inaugural ceremony for its Beijing Daxing-Helsinki route at the airport, launching the carrier's first route to Finland. The route also marks the first non-stop service from the Daxing airport to Northern Europe operated by a Chinese airline.

Earlier, Air China launched two direct routes from China to Brussels. Starting Tuesday, Air China began flights from Beijing to Brussels, followed by a new route from Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, to Brussels on Thursday. 

With the addition of these two routes, Air China will serve 23 destinations in Europe, offering regular weekly flights and building a convenient and efficient aerial bridge for cross-border personnel exchanges, economic and trade cooperation, and cultural interaction between Asia and Europe, the company said in a release sent to the Global Times on Monday. 

Additionally, to meet the rising demand for European flights, Cathay Pacific will add three round-trip flights to Paris and three round-trip flights to Zurich in April.