Transport · civil aviation
China aviation passenger and freight transport
In 2025, China civil aviation carried 770 million passenger journeys and 10.172 million tonnes of freight and mail. Passenger and freight turnover reached 1,399.3 billion passenger-km and 41.31 billion tonne-km.
2025
Four passenger and freight measures
Civil aviation passenger trends, 2017–2025
Passenger traffic and passenger turnover use separate axes
Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China ↗ · NBS annual communiques, 2017–2025. Traffic and turnover are separate measures; airport throughput is not substituted.chinainfigures.com
Civil aviation freight and mail trends, 2017–2025
Freight tonnage and freight turnover use separate axes
Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China ↗ · NBS annual communiques, 2017–2025. Traffic and turnover are separate measures; airport throughput is not substituted.chinainfigures.com
Annual official values
| Year | Passenger traffic (million trips) | Passenger turnover (bn passenger-km) | Freight/mail traffic (million t) | Freight/mail turnover (bn tonne-km) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 550 | 951.28 | 7.058 | 24.35 |
| 2018 | 610 | 1,071.16 | 7.385 | 26.24 |
| 2019 | 660 | 1,170.51 | 7.532 | 26.32 |
| 2020 | 420 | 631.12 | 6.766 | 24.02 |
| 2021 | 440 | 652.97 | 7.318 | 27.82 |
| 2022 | 250 | 391.37 | 6.076 | 25.41 |
| 2023 | 620 | 1,030.88 | 7.354 | 28.36 |
| 2024 | 730 | 1,291.47 | 8.982 | 35.39 |
| 2025 | 770 | 1,399.3 | 10.172 | 41.31 |
Scope boundaries and common misreadings
Passenger traffic counts completed passenger journeys, not unique people; passenger turnover weights those journeys by distance. Freight and mail traffic measures mass, while freight turnover weights it by distance. Airport passenger and cargo throughput are airport-side statistics and cannot replace civil aviation transport output.
Dividing 2025 turnover by traffic implies an average passenger distance of about 1817 km and an average freight haul of about 4061 km. These are derived national averages, not directly published route statistics.
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Civil aviation passenger and freight indicator added
Added China's 2017-2025 civil aviation passenger traffic, passenger turnover, freight and mail traffic, and freight and mail turnover from archived NBS annual communiques.
Related sources: National Bureau of Statistics of China ↗ · National Bureau of Statistics of China ↗ · National Bureau of Statistics of China ↗ · National Bureau of Statistics of China ↗ · National Bureau of Statistics of China ↗ · National Bureau of Statistics of China ↗ · National Bureau of Statistics of China ↗ · National Bureau of Statistics of China ↗ · National Bureau of Statistics of China ↗
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Added page-level formal-data CSV files, chart-level CSV/PNG/SVG exports and a bilingual revision timeline to all indicator pages.
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