On February 6, the official in charge of the Department of Air Transport of CAAC stated at the press conference of joint prevention and control mechanism held by the State Council that this year’s civil aviation passenger traffic has decreased significantly compared with those of previous years due to the escalation of the disease, and that there will be no return travel peak similar to previous post-holiday travel rush. However, in view of the serious situation of disease prevention and control, civil aviation will continue to take proactive measures to respond to domestic passengers' return trips, and never allow airports and aircraft cabins to become virus transmission channels. Domestic airlines are also required to overcome difficulties and strive to ensure "un-interrupted flight operations" on international routes.

According to the data released at the press conference, the passenger traffic of civil aviation during the seven-day holiday of the Spring Festival stood at only 6.51 million, which was a substantial decrease, only half of the same period last year, and the average passenger load factor was only 51.7%. In the recent week (January 29 to February 4), the flight traffic dropped nearly half compared with the same period last year, and the load factor was less than 45%, while the number in the previous year was 90%. In the coming week (February 6 to February 12), the average booked load factor is only about 30%, with an average daily booked traffic of 804,000 passengers, about 43% that of the same period last year. In addition, since the free-of-charge refund policy was implemented on January 24, passengers on a large scale have refunded their tickets. As of February 4, over 13 million refunds have been issued by civil aviation.

The official in charge of the Department of Transport said that according to the above statistics, there will be no return travel peak similar to previous post-holiday transport. Although passenger traffic decreased significantly compared with those of the previous years, civil aviation still takes proactive measures in view of the serious situation of disease prevention and control.

First, disease prevention and control is taken as the top priority during post-holiday transport of 2020, and the health monitoring of passengers before boarding is strengthened. Disinfection in airports and aircraft are stepped up, standards are followed to refresh the cabin air by regular ventilation, service procedures are streamlined to reduce people to people contact, and passengers are recommended to wear facial masks. Second, emergency transport is fully supported, and additional charter flights are organized in time to ensure the emergency tasks of transporting supplies, personnel, and passengers stranded overseas. Third, operation resumption is planned ahead to provide policies for the civil aviation industry to promote high-quality development after the disease.

With regard to the cancellation of a large number of flights to/from China by foreign airlines, which caused rather great impact on the connectivity between China and the rest of the world, the official in charge of the Department of Transport indicated at the press conference that CAAC requires domestic airlines to overcome difficulties and adopt measures such as applying for co-terminal and strive to ensure "un-interrupted flight operations" on international routes to facilitate the exchanges between Chinese and foreign passengers. Meanwhile, CAAC will work closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to increase public diplomacy and demonstrate to the international community our firm confidence and concrete measures to overcome the disease as early as possible. Up to now, CAAC has sent urgent letters to the civil aviation authorities in over 70 countries with flight connections, and has received positive feedback from some countries and regions.

Previously, with the assistance of our embassies and consulates abroad, CAAC has organized 12 additional charter flights and has taken home nearly 1,500 Hubei passengers stranded overseas. The aforementioned official said that in the next step, with the support of our embassies and consulates abroad and the cultural and tourism departments, CAAC will continue to arrange charter flights to pick up Chinese passengers who are still stranded overseas.