(Yicai Global) Jan. 12 – China’s aviation industry shrunk significantly last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The sector transported 420 million passengers, a 36.7 percent decline from a year ago, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said in its announcement today.

Air transportation turnover slid by 38.3 percent to 79.9 billion ton-kilometers.

The cargo sector was doing better. Some 6.8 million tons of goods were transported, falling 10.2 percent from 2019.

During the fourth quarter of 2020, almost 95 percent of domestic routes were back to normal. The total transportation volume rebounded to 76.3 percent of that logged in the same period in 2019.

The industry recovered quickly from the pandemic thanks to the effective epidemic control measures, according to the government agency.

Over the same quarter, passenger throughput was 4.2 percent down and cargo volumes dropped by 15.8 percent.

Editor: Emmi Laine