(Yicai Global) April 15 -- China's air-passenger traffic shrank by 72 percent to 15.1 million travelers in March from a year ago as the country was still grappling with the Covid-19 outbreak, according to official data.

The total air cargo volume fell by 23 percent to 484,000 metric tons, the Civil Aviation Administration of China announced today. But transport only by freight planes rose 28 percent to 253,000 tons.

The sector had 417,000 hours of aviation time over the month with 3.9 billion ton-kilometers, down 64 percent from a year ago.

Editor: Emmi Laine