According to the latest statistics, 41 million airports in the country (note: statistics are based on 2025 caliber) had about 106 million passenger throughputs and 1,648 million mail throughputs in january. Overall, the air transport market is characterized by a “temperature recovery in passenger transport and increased fragmentation of freight transport”, and regional development imbalances continue to accentuate. This paper analyses the performance of the airports and the underlying causes, both in terms of passenger throughput and post throughput. Passenger throughput: steady advance of front-line airports and visible pressure at mid-western airports
Head camping is solid. In january 2026, the top 10 airport passengers in the country together accounted for 51,856,000 people, accounting for 48. 9 per cent of the total of 41 major airports. Guangzhou's white cloud airport, which is at the top of 74,933 per cent throughput, showed a strong growth resilience over the same period of 4. 9 per cent. Shanghai pudong (7. 05 million times, -1. 3 per cent) and beijing capital (6. 072,000 times, +6. 0 per cent) are divided into two or three persons, of which beijing capital airport passengers increased significantly over the same period, reflecting the rapid recovery of air demand in the kyinzu region. Of the top 10 airports, it is noteworthy that there has been a marked decline in cheng dixon (5. 2 per cent), chongqing jiangbei (-4. 7 per cent) and kunming long water (-7. 2 per cent), mainly affected by the slowdown in regional economic growth and increased iron competition. The shanghai rainbow bridge (+3. 9 per cent) has been prominent in the long triangle competition thanks to its domestic network of routes。
Passenger throughput has been significantly different from growth. In january, the growth rate of passenger throughput was marked by a marked fragmentation of 41 airports. Nanning wu jin airport, which runs at 10. 8 per cent a year, is the fastest-growing class million airport this month. This growth was largely due to the deepening of trade and economic exchanges between guangxi and asean countries and the rapid recovery of the cross-border tourism market. Airports such as shek jiahang (6. 7 per cent), zhiyang qi (8. 9 per cent) and tin-free (9. 2 per cent) also showed remarkable performance, reflecting the dynamism of the regional aviation market。
In contrast, many major airports experienced negative growth. In january, the number of passengers at longsand yellow flower airport decreased by 13. 9 per cent in comparison to the previous year, followed closely by taishin takeshi (-13. 0 per cent) and winzhou yong bay (-13. 7 per cent). The central and western hub airports, such as chengdu tien (-5. 2 per cent) and chongqing jiangbei (-4. 7 per cent), are also under pressure, mainly as a result of the regional slowdown in economic growth and competition caused by the improvement of the high iron network。
Postage: pudong airport is at the top of the list, chongqing is growing rapidly
In the area of cargo and mail transport, shanghai pudong airport continued to be an absolute leader, with 343847 tons of incoming post in january, representing an increase of 12. 7 per cent over the same period, or 20. 9 per cent of the total of 41 million class airports. As china's largest air cargo hub, pudong airport has benefited from the flourishing of cross-border electric operators and the gradual recovery of the international industrial chain supply chain, further consolidating its cargo hub position. White cloud in guangzhou (20,5228 tons) and boang in shenzhen (16,8621 tons) ranked second and third, respectively, but the gap with pudong airport increased further. Postage at beijing capital airport was 128,182 tons, an increase of only 1. 1 per cent over the same period. The increase was significantly slower than in pudong, reflecting a relative lag in the development of air cargo in the kyinzu region。
The most notable increase in postage during the month was at chongqingjiangbei airport, which was first at the same rate of 59. 6 per cent, with 57,903 tons completed. This alarming growth was largely the result of the accelerated construction of chongqing as an international aviation logistics hub in the west, as well as the rapid development of industries such as cross-border electric operators and aviation manufacturing. In addition to chongqing, there has been a faster increase in postage at airports such as zhengzhou (10. 7 per cent), ningboang (9. 7 per cent) and chinan remote wall (8. 9 per cent), reflecting the rise of regional air cargo hubs。
In sharp contrast to the high rate of growth at some airports, there has been a significant decline in postage at many airports. South changchang north, with the same drop of 39. 4 per cent, also experienced a drop of more than 20 per cent at airports such as nakagawa (-33. 8 per cent), taihara takeshi (-24. 4 per cent) and shen maungxi (-26. 4 per cent). This extreme polarization reflects the fact that the air freight market is undergoing structural adjustments and that resources are increasingly concentrated in major hubs. It is worth noting that in xiamen takazaki and zhengzhou, there has been a “bust-down” of passengers and cargo, with a 3. 8 per cent drop in throughput and a 15. 3 per cent drop in postage, reflecting pressure on the regional economy. The analysis suggests that this may be linked to a slowdown in local foreign trade exports, industrial restructuring and increased competition at surrounding airports。
Analysis of operational characteristics and trends
In january 2026, data on the operation of tens of millions of airports were characterized by the “weak north and south and the division of goods and passengers”. The pattern of “strength and weakness north and south” is particularly marked in the area of passenger transport, where airports in the south china and the long triangle have generally performed better than in the north-east of china, thanks to greater economic resilience, the recovery of earlier international routes and the advantages of winter tourism resources. Behind this difference is the combination of regional economic dynamism, industrial structure and climate factors。
It is noteworthy that since the spring holidays of 2026 were in mid-february, the january increase in passenger flows was driven mainly by business trips and early start-up family visits and tourism demand, which have yet to reach full spring peak. This “split spring” effect makes the data more reflective of endogenous growth dynamics in regional markets rather than a single holiday impulse. The strong growth of airports in the south, such as nanning wu (+10. 8 per cent) and tayang tsi (+8. 9 per cent), is the result of a combination of regional economic dynamism and the holiday economy。
The “division of goods and passengers” reveals a trend towards specialization in the aviation market. On the one hand, the overall moderate recovery in the passenger market has been accompanied by negative growth in many airports under high iron competition and uneven regional development pressures. On the other hand, the freight market has a “maternal effect” that concentrates on the head hub and industrial core airports. Shanghai pudong airport (+12. 7 per cent) has consolidated its global freight hub through its concentration in high-value-added industries, such as transborder electricians and biomedicine, and through the windfall of freight volumes. Chongqing's (+59. 6 per cent) explosion is an example of “industrial-driven aviation”. As an important electronic information industry cluster, chongqing's manufacturing base provides a continuous stream of “ammunition” for air cargo. This phenomenon portends that future competition for air freight will no longer be a mere competition for the network of routes, but rather a combination of the combined power of the underlying industrial chains, supply chains and local industrial strategic configurations。
(ding inks)
