(Yicai Global) Feb. 9 -- China’s domestic air freight grew 4.4 percent last month, the first expansion since December 2019, according to the latest data.

The total volume of cargo and mail transported in January reached 669,000 tons, an increase of 10.5 percent from the same time last year, according to statistics released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China today.

International freight and mail transport grew 24.7 percent last month year on year, the third straight month of growth.

However, total turnover in the country’s freight industry was still just 62.9 percent of last year’s levels at 6.35 billion ton-kilometers, which is the weight in tons of the goods transported multiplied by the distance covered.

There were 737,000 hours of air freight traffic last month, down 30 percent year on year. General aviation flight hours, though, doubled to 85,000 hours.

Passenger numbers were 60 percent of last year’s numbers at just over thirty million. The punctuality rate stayed at a high 93.9 percent in January, and no accidents were recorded, the CAAC said.

Editor: Kim Taylor