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China’s regulator says Mainland airlines post profit for 2025, aims to address cut-throat competition trend
January 15th 2026
2025 was the second consecutive year of profit for China’s airline industry, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), despite the fierce price competition on the domestic market, as announced at its annual work conference last week. Read More » The country’s industry total net profit in 2025 was CNY6.5 billion (USD930.8 million), buoyed by growth in passenger numbers, cargo volume, and mail throughput, as well as lower oil prices. Passenger traffic rose 5.5% to 770 million last year, while freight and mail increased 13% to 10.2 million tons, the CAAC said. For 2026, the CAAC expects to reach the target of 810 million passengers and 10.7 million tons of freight and mail. Passenger traffic in the Mainland hit record highs in 2024 and 2025 after having returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2023. But to capture market share, most carriers cut ticket prices, leading to average economy class fares dropping 13% in 2024 and 3% last year, Yicai reports. To prevent price wars from eroding industry profits, the CAAC’s focus this year will be on rectifying this "involution-style competition," Song Zhiyong, CAAC director, said. The regulator will study and develop methods for investigating passenger transportation costs this year, explore setting up a fare monitoring and early warning system, and strengthen the supervision of online sales platforms, Song explained. The airlines’ insiders told Yicai the CAAC is already gathering data from carriers to calculate route-by-route operating expenses, a step intended to lay the groundwork for the new system, which will prevent fares from dropping below cost.
