Chinese airlines carried 39 million passengers in February 2016 (11.6% more than in February 2015), according to monthly traffic statistics released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

China Aviation Daily reports that the number of passengers travelling on domestic and international flights increased 9.8% and 28.3%, respectively, to 34.6 million and 4.38 million. Traffic on Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan routes were up 2.3% from a year earlier, at 987,000.

Chinese airlines handled 352,000 tonnes of cargo and mail in February, down 13.5% year on year. Cargo traffic saw declines of 14.5% and 11%, respectively, on domestic routes and international routes.

The passenger load factor dropped one percentage point year on year to 83.5% and the freight load factor declined 2.7 percentage points to 68.2%. In the first two months of 2016, Chinese airlines carried up to 76.34 million passengers, up 13.3% over a year earlier.