China's civil aviation will start its winter and spring flight season with increased routes to ice and snow travel and cold escape destinations

China News Service, Beijing, October 16 (Reporter Liu Wenwen) From October 25, 2026 to March 27, 2027, China Civil Aviation will implement the flight plan for the 2026 winter and spring season. The reporter learned from Air Travel Zongheng on the 16th that ice and snow tourism and cold escape tourism have become the key directions for increasing investment in capacity in the new aviation season.

Li Haoying, the person in charge of the official direct sales platform operation of Hanglv Zongheng Civil Aviation, said that in the new aviation season, route capacity will be further optimized. Airlines will focus on matching seasonal market demand and will continue to improve the route network structure by relying on new routes, increased frequency, upgraded aircraft models and other measures.

On the one hand, many airlines continue to increase the capacity of hub airports. Big data from Hanglv Zongheng Civil Aviation’s official direct sales platform shows that currently, the top ten cities in terms of planned flight volume during the winter and spring season are Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Kunming, Chongqing, Xi’an, Hangzhou, and Wuhan. Among them, the planned domestic flight volume to and from Shanghai increased by more than 10% year-on-year, and the planned domestic flight volume to and from Chengdu and Kunming both increased by more than 8% year-on-year.

On the other hand, ice and snow tourism and cold-weather tourism have become the key directions for increasing capacity in the new aviation season. Many airlines have further increased the supply of flights to northern ice and snow tourism destinations and southern warm winter vacation destinations. Data show that as of October 15, the number of planned domestic flights to and from Urumqi during the winter and spring season has increased by about 10% year-on-year, and the number of planned domestic flights to and from Harbin, Sanya and other places has increased year-on-year.

In terms of international routes, the route supply in the cross-border travel market during the new season has been further enriched, with short-haul routes and medium- and long-distance routes developing simultaneously. Among them, Southeast Asian routes are still the focus of airline expansion, and the frequency of flights on some European routes has also increased, promoting the expansion of the international route network. Big data from Air Travel Zongheng shows that during the winter and spring season, the number of planned flights to Seoul and Kuala Lumpur increased by about 20% year-on-year, and the number of planned flights to Singapore increased by more than 10% year-on-year.