Summary
- Asia has 229,000 weekly passenger flights in September
- China Eastern remains the top airline in Asia
- Most carriers have grown since 2019, but international often remains down
Asia has more flights in September than any other continent or region, just as it normally does. According to OAG data, there are 229,000 weekly passenger services, with Asia accounting for a third of the world's total. Helped by China, India, Japan, and Indonesia, 82% of Asia's flights are domestic, hugely reflected in the continent's largest airlines.
Asia's top 10 airlines: September
The following carriers are so big and important that one in 2.4 flights to, from, and within the vast continent is by them. China Eastern remains first, but only just, thanks to even faster growth by China Southern. Seven places are taken up by Chinese carriers, obviously because of the domestic market.
Relatively little has changed in terms of order versus 2019. Japan Airlines has fallen due to positive but slower growth than most others. Sichuan Airlines has entered the top 10 after AirAsia Malaysia, whose flights remain down by a quarter, fell out of it.
Asia ranking | Airline | Weekly Sept flights* | Change vs. Sept 2019** |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | China Eastern | 16,871 | +9.4% |
2 | China Southern | 16,838 | +14.6% |
3 | IndiGo | 13,194 | +33.6% |
4 | Air China | 11,953 | +28.0% |
5 | All Nippon | 8,265 | -4.3% |
6 | Shenzhen Airlines | 5,853 | +19.3% |
7 | Japan Airlines | 5,777 | +3.1% |
8 | Xiamen Airlines | 5,618 | +25.2% |
9 | Sichuan Airlines | 5,524 | +30.1% |
10 | Hainan Airlines | 5,437 | +1.2% |
* Per OAG | ** Per OAG |
Stay aware: Sign up for my weekly new routes newsletter.
Big growth, but international often down
Notice that all but one operator has grown versus the pre-pandemic 2019, often by surprisingly strong amounts. They have well and truly recovered overall by this measure, but often not internationally.
Hainan Airlines' international flights remain down by 53.9%, also reflecting the wider troubles afflicting the carrier and the group. China Southern and Sichuan Airlines' international flights are half of what they were.
China Eastern is down by 39.9%, All Nippon by 36.3%, Air China by 35.0%, and Shenzhen Airlines by 17.1%. Japan Airlines has a quarter fewer international services.
In contrast, Xiamen Airlines' international offering has grown by 1.4%, helped by new routes including Xiamen to Paris CDG and Chongqing to Osaka. However, its expansion has been far exceeded by IndiGo.
IndiGo international: +40.6%
Asia's third-largest airline is IndiGo, occupying the same position as it did in 2019. While its enormous domestic operation has grown by a third from an already very high base, international flights have risen by over 40%.
IndiGo now has 703 weekly foreign services, more than any of the top 10 carriers except China Eastern. It has risen nicely, helped by the still-to-recover positions of others. However, international is still a very small part of IndiGo's network and operation.
Multiple new routes have helped
New routes since May 2023 include the following, none of which have been served by IndiGo before. It has added its first service to Indonesia, Africa, and the Caucasus:
- Bhubaneswar to Dubai: began May 15th
- Bhubaneswar to Bangkok: June 3rd
- Bhubaneswar to Singapore: June 3rd
- Kochi to Bahrain: June 13th
- Hyderabad to Ras al-Khaimah: June 15th
- Mumbai to Nairobi: August 5th
- Mumbai to Jakarta: August 7th
- Delhi to Tbilisi: August 8th
- Ahmedabad to Abu Dhabi: August 11th
- Ahmedabad to Jeddah: August 11th
- Delhi to Baku: August 11th
- Goa Mopa to Abu Dhabi: starts September 2nd
What do you make of it all? Let us know in the comments.
Sources of information: OAG, FlightRadar24.com