Flight cancelation rates are spiking across China as authorities again crackdown on travel and lockdown cities amid fresh waves of Covid-19 infections. Doubling down on its Covid-zero strategy and ahead of a critical Chinese Communist Party congress meeting in October, 33 cities in China are under so-called static lockdowns which are disrupting the day-to-day operations of key infrastructure such as airports and the airlines that serve them.
According to ADS-B data tracking services, at Chengdu Tianfu there are 116 aircraft grounded with Chengdu Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Air China, Hainan Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, Lucky Air (China), Shenzhen Airlines, China Express Airlines, Loong Air, and Qingdao Airlines affected while at Chengdu Shuangliu there are 148 on the ground with Air China, Sichuan Airlines, China Eastern, China Southern Airlines, Tibet Airlines, Chengdu Airlines, and LJ Air impacted. At Guiyang, in Guizhou province, there are 35 aircraft on the ground from Air China, China Southern, Shandong Airlines, Colorful Guizhou Airlines, 9 Air, Tianjin Airlines, and China Express Airlines affected. As a direct result, Chinese airports claimed the top nine spots for the most cancelations last week.
Chengdu, China's sixth biggest city by headcount, had its more stringent lockdown conditions indefinitely extended last week. The 21 million residents of the city are currently required to stay at home except for essential reasons. According to online sources, the Chengdu lockdown saw flight cancelation rates reach 88% at Chengdu Shuangliu and 95% at Chengdu Tianfu early last week. Those cancelation rates have since eased. On Sunday, September 11, Flightradar24 ADS-B data revealed 16% of scheduled departures from and 17% of scheduled arrivals to Chengdu Shuangliu were canceled, while departure cancelation rates hit 13% at Chengdu Tianfu on the same day and the arrival cancelation rate was 15%.
On Monday, September 12, both Chengdu airports are at the top of the global rankings for flight cancelations. Reflecting the widespread flight disruptions across China, other Chinese airports still round out the top ten list and China Eastern Airlines again leads the worldwide list of the airline with the most cancelations scheduled.
