On Friday, data released by China’s Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) shows, the country’s aviation industry suffered a $4.89 billion (34.25 billion yuan) loss during the second quarter, which incidentally is only slightly smaller than the one it suffered in the first quarter.

In the first quarter, China’s aviation industry lost 38.1 billion yuan, according to the CAAC data.

Although the country’s aviation industry is recovering faster than most countries that are emerging from COVID-19 lockdowns, passenger footfalls are still way below pre-COVID-19 levels, according to the official data.

In a statement the CAAC said, June passenger numbers fell by 42.4% from a year earlier to 30.74 million; this is however slight higher than the 52.6% decline in May.

In order to boost cash flow, a few Chinese airlines have rolled out discount passes that allows passengers unlimited domestic travel with few restrictions, with China Eastern Airlines being the first to do so in June to sell “fly at will” passes for unlimited weekend domestic travel; these have a validity of up to December 31, 2020.

Following its lead, other Chinese airlines have also followed suit. Hainan Airlines for example offered flight passes that enables consumers to make unlimited trips to or from Hainan island – a popular tropical tourist spot.

($1 = 7.0017 Chinese yuan renminbi)

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