Global travel and data analytics specialist Cirium says that nearly 10,000 flights have been suspended since the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus in China in January 2020.
Cirium statistics show that 9,807 scheduled flights within, to and from mainland China did not fly from January 23, 2020. The data spans the period from the day before the first reported flight cancellation to 28 January – the latest day for which figures are available.
The analysis reveals that 92% of all scheduled flights to and from Wuhan – ground zero for the current outbreak – did not fly between January 23 and 28. Of the 2,606 flights that were set to fly in and out of the city during this period, a total of 2,406 services did not take place.
Peter Morris, Chief Economist at Ascend by Cirium, said: “Cirium data clearly shows the dramatic impact that coronavirus is having, with nearly 10,000 scheduled flights to, from and within China being suspended between January 23 and 28.”
Rahul Oberai, MD, APAC at Cirium said: “While the industry is playing its part to help prevent the spread of the virus, the outbreak will inevitably cause significant disruption of schedules and travel patterns in the short and medium term.
“The precedent of the SARS outbreak indicates to us that the underlying demand for travel driven by GDP growth will in time produce a robust recovery. Cirium is closely monitoring the flights and traffic data to keep the market fully informed on developments.”
According to Cirium, a total of 90,607 domestic and international flights were scheduled to operate across mainland China over the six-day period between January 23 and January 28. The 9,807 flights which were cancelled represent 10.8% of the country’s overall scheduled flights.
Cirium’s data also shows that during this period Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines was the most heavily affected carrier by total number flights that did not operate. A total of 1,591 of its services were affected, 1,529 domestic and 62 international.
This was followed by China Southern Airlines with 1,510 flights which did not take off, 1,425 domestic and 85 international. Xiamen Airlines suffered 837 unoperated flights, including 828 domestic and nine international services.
In terms of percentages, 9 Air – a subsidiary of Shanghai-based Juneyao Airlines – was hit hard. Approximately 77% (46 in total) of all the carrier’s planned international flights did not fly, in addition to 27% (140 in total) of its domestic services between January 23 and January 28.
The airports that experienced the highest number of scheduled flights that did not operate were, as expected, Wuhan (2,406 out of 2,606), as well as Beijing Capital (920 out of 9,113) and Guangzhou (829 out of 8,236), followed by Shanghai Hongqiao and Xi’an to a lesser extent, Cirium said.
The routes with the largest number of unoperated flights were all domestic, with the Beijing-to-Shanghai service topping the list. This was closely followed by routes to and from Wuhan, particularly the highly-popular Wuhan-to-Beijing route.
Cirium’s insights are based on data from the Cirium Core – its aviation and air travel data analytics source. Its dedicated team of expert data analysts continue to assess the
impact of the coronavirus on the domestic and international air travel
industry in and out of China.
