Air China released its September 2026 operating statistics, showing year-on-year growth across most key indicators. Combined passenger traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), rose 6.30% to 27.14 billion, outpacing the 3.50% increase in passenger capacity (ASK) to 31.76 billion. The resulting passenger load factor improved by 2.30 percentage points to 85.40%.
Domestic routes remained the airline’s largest segment, delivering a 2.70% RPK increase despite a 0.40% reduction in capacity. International services were the principal growth driver, with capacity up 14.20% and traffic up 16.20%. Regional routes continued to contract, posting an 11.30% drop in capacity and a 4.20% fall in traffic.
Cargo operations also advanced. Available freight tonne kilometres (AFTK) climbed 6.30% to 1.06 billion, while revenue freight tonne kilometres (RFTK) expanded 10.50% to 0.45 billion, lifting the cargo load factor by 1.60 percentage points to 42.50%.
During the month, Air China launched a thrice-weekly Beijing Capital–Bucharest–Zagreb service, added one A320-series aircraft and retired one B737 and two A320 aircraft. At 30 September 2026, the carrier’s fleet stood at 974 aircraft, comprising 436 self-owned, 258 under finance leases and 280 under operating leases.
For the first nine months of 2026, cumulative RPK increased 7.90% to 238.31 billion, while cumulative ASK rose 3.00% to 279.88 billion, lifting the year-to-date passenger load factor by 3.90 percentage points to 85.10%. Cumulative cargo traffic grew 5.60% to 3.88 billion RFTK on a 2.10% capacity increase.
The company reiterated that all figures are based on internal statistics and may differ from data disclosed in its periodic reports.
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