From the perspective of the industry's macro environment, China's civil aviation market will steadily recover and improve in quality in 2026. The total volume of passenger and cargo transportation will continue to maintain positive growth throughout the year. Domestic routes will be more closely connected during the summer and autumn seasons. International routes will achieve a triple breakthrough in flight scale, coverage, and market space. The capacity of national hub airports will continue to improve. Third- and fourth-tier city regional aviation and cross-border cargo routes will usher in a window of opportunity for expansion. However, the industry also faces structural development contradictions: capacity on core trunk routes is approaching saturation, homogeneous competition is intensifying, the stability of routes at small and medium-sized airports is insufficient, the inclusiveness of regional air travel needs to be improved, the slowdown in global aircraft deliveries is constraining capacity growth, and multiple challenges such as the international geopolitical environment, cross-border air rights negotiations, and the need for airlines to refine their operations coexist. The entire industry urgently needs a unified communication platform to analyze trends, solve pain points, and coordinate the layout of medium- and long-term route strategies.
From the national strategic perspective, 2026 is a crucial year for civil aviation to implement the strategy of expanding domestic demand and serve high-standard opening-up. The civil aviation industry is entrusted with the important mission of stimulating domestic consumption, facilitating the domestic and international dual circulation, and supporting the "Belt and Road" initiative's air connectivity. Domestically, China continues to advance supply-side reforms in its air routes, accelerating the construction of a multi-tiered route network system comprising international aviation hubs, regional hubs, and feeder airports. Coupled with the continued recovery of outbound and inbound tourism, the surge in cross-border e-commerce air cargo demand, and the large-scale deployment of domestically produced large aircrafts, domestic route expansion and international network development are entering a new period of opportunity.
The 2nd Routes China Summit will further gather global aviation resources, focusing on core issues such as optimizing domestic route structure, opening more international destinations, and developing air cargo networks etc. It aims to assist China's civil aviation accelerate the construction of a modern route network system, empowering regional economic synergy and all-round opening-up through air connectivity.
