(Yicai Global) March 16 -- China’s main airlines all carried more passengers in February as the number of travelers increased thanks to the travel rush at the end of the long Spring Festival break and as Covid-19 travel restrictions become a thing of the past.

The country’s ‘Big Three’ airlines, Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines, all reported a passenger load factor, or capacity utilization, of over 70 percent last month, a slight increase from January and a more-than-8-percent jump from a year before.

While private carriers Spring Airlines and Juneyao Airlines did even better, posting passenger load factors of 87.1 percent and 83.2 percent, respectively, an over 10 percent increase from a year earlier. These are the five airlines to have released their February data so far.

Airlines also added more flights in February from the month before to meet surging demand. Air China expanded its passenger transport capacity for domestic routes by almost 50 percent year on year, the other two state-owned carriers by almost 20 percent and Juneyao Airlines by 12.6 percent. But the number of domestic routes operated by Spring Airlines declined.

In terms of domestic demand, passenger traffic at Air China jumped 60 percent and over 30 percent at China Eastern, China Southern and Juneyao Airlines. Only Spring Airlines posted a drop in passenger turnover.

The carriers are also benefiting from booming international travel. Chinese airlines transported over 830,000 tourists overseas last month, a more-than-six-fold leap from a year earlier, according to data from online travel agency Travelsky. As a result, the average price of an international air ticket tumbled almost 20 percent in February.

Air China has seen an seven-fold leap in international traveler turnover and Spring Airlines an over 50 times increase. Air China has hiked its flight frequency on international routes by more than two-and-a-half times, while Spring Airlines has upped its more than 28 times.

Spring Airlines has added more flights to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan as well as additional international routes since February, logging the fastest recovery in international and regional routes in the civil aviation sector, The Paper reported today, citing an executive at the budget carrier. The airline's international and regional businesses have recovered to about 30 percent of 2019 levels.

And more international flights might be scheduled when the new civil aviation season starts at the end of March. With the new season, adjustments to passenger loads will be adjusted further, especially outbound ones, to meet the growing needs of tourism, overseas study and international business trips.

Editor: Kim Taylor