Chinese carriers are ramping up international flight capacity for the 2025–2026 winter-spring season, with multiple airlines announcing expanded or new routes linking China to global destinations.
On Sunday, China Southern Airlines revealed plans to boost its Guangzhou–Sydney service to four daily round trips from December 13, 2025, to February 24, 2026—up from its current schedule of two daily flights in off-peak periods and three in peak seasons. In 2024, the airline transported nearly 412,000 passengers on this route, topping all China–Australia corridors by volume, per data shared with the Global Times.
Other carriers are also scaling up. Air China, on Friday, outlined expansions including new Beijing–Brussels and Chengdu–Brussels routes, alongside steady growth in average daily international/regional flights. Since early 2024, it has launched or resumed 12 international routes, such as Beijing–Vladivostok, Beijing–Irkutsk, and Beijing–Toronto. Hainan Airlines will debut a Haikou–Ho Chi Minh City direct flight on December 15, aiming to deepen China–Vietnam ties in economy, trade, and culture. Juneyao Air will launch Shanghai Pudong–Tawau (Malaysia) service on January 15, 2026—marking Shanghai’s first direct link to Semporna, a premier diving hub, eliminating transfers via Kuala Lumpur or Kota Kinabalu.
This surge aligns with China’s ongoing visa policy optimizations. As of late last month, China has mutual visa exemptions with 29 countries and unilaterally waives visas for 48 nations (spanning Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East), Xinhuareported Saturday. Such measures have spurred international travel: Beijing Daxing International Airport, for instance, hit a milestone this year, welcoming over 50 million inbound/outbound passengers (up 8.41% YoY)—its first time surpassing the 50-million mark since opening. International/regional passengers surged 25.39% YoY to 5.49 million.
Operating 70 domestic/foreign airlines across nearly 190 routes to ~180 destinations in 25 countries (Asia, Europe, Africa, etc.), Daxing has also added/resumed flights to Casablanca, Bandar Seri Begawan, Ho Chi Minh City, Dushanbe, and Muscat this year, per a Sunday release to the Global Times.
