China’s Civil Aviation Administration opened the 2026 summer–autumn schedule on 29 March, triggering the biggest single-day overhaul of routes since the country fully re-opened its borders. Air China used the change-over to restore its long-suspended Beijing–Delhi passenger service, a symbolic reopening of air links between Asia’s two largest emerging economies after a six-year freeze.
![China kicks off 2026 summer–autumn flight season, restores Beijing–Delhi service and scales-up C919 network]()
Corporate travellers rushing to take advantage of these newly available flights should also keep visa requirements in mind. VisaHQ’s online platform (https://www.visahq.com/china/) can streamline Chinese visa applications, coordinate paperwork for multi-country itineraries, and give travel managers a single dashboard to track the status of every traveller’s documents—saving time just when demand is spiking.
The carrier also rolled out new Chongqing–Manila and Wenzhou–Jeju flights and added frequencies on popular European routes such as Beijing–Warsaw and Milan. Just as significant for corporate mobility managers is the rapid deployment of COMAC’s C919 jet. Air China, China Eastern and China Southern have all earmarked the domestically built narrow-body for high-density trunk routes such as Beijing–Shanghai, Guangzhou–Beijing Daxing and the newly launched Beijing–Xiamen rotation. With 24 daily C919 flights now scheduled across 11 routes, the aircraft’s growing footprint gives procurement teams more options when setting “fly-China-first” policies and could ease capacity bottlenecks on key business corridors. Beijing Daxing International Airport expects average daily movements to exceed 1,000 during the season—up 3.8 percent year-on-year—serving 133 domestic and 44 international destinations. China Southern took the opportunity to inaugurate Beijing Daxing–Helsinki, the first non-stop link between Northern Europe and the capital’s new mega-hub, while Cathay Pacific confirmed additional Paris and Zurich flights from April. For multinationals planning travel to and from China over the next seven months, the new timetable translates into roughly 21,000 international flights a week covering 86 countries. Corporate travel buyers should review preferred-carrier agreements quickly, as newly restored routes—particularly to India, Southeast Asia and the European Union—are likely to re-price once demand materialises. The breadth of the programme also signals confidence that China’s outbound and inbound mobility will continue its post-pandemic rebound through the second half of 2026.
Corporate travellers rushing to take advantage of these newly available flights should also keep visa requirements in mind. VisaHQ’s online platform (https://www.visahq.com/china/) can streamline Chinese visa applications, coordinate paperwork for multi-country itineraries, and give travel managers a single dashboard to track the status of every traveller’s documents—saving time just when demand is spiking.
The carrier also rolled out new Chongqing–Manila and Wenzhou–Jeju flights and added frequencies on popular European routes such as Beijing–Warsaw and Milan. Just as significant for corporate mobility managers is the rapid deployment of COMAC’s C919 jet. Air China, China Eastern and China Southern have all earmarked the domestically built narrow-body for high-density trunk routes such as Beijing–Shanghai, Guangzhou–Beijing Daxing and the newly launched Beijing–Xiamen rotation. With 24 daily C919 flights now scheduled across 11 routes, the aircraft’s growing footprint gives procurement teams more options when setting “fly-China-first” policies and could ease capacity bottlenecks on key business corridors. Beijing Daxing International Airport expects average daily movements to exceed 1,000 during the season—up 3.8 percent year-on-year—serving 133 domestic and 44 international destinations. China Southern took the opportunity to inaugurate Beijing Daxing–Helsinki, the first non-stop link between Northern Europe and the capital’s new mega-hub, while Cathay Pacific confirmed additional Paris and Zurich flights from April. For multinationals planning travel to and from China over the next seven months, the new timetable translates into roughly 21,000 international flights a week covering 86 countries. Corporate travel buyers should review preferred-carrier agreements quickly, as newly restored routes—particularly to India, Southeast Asia and the European Union—are likely to re-price once demand materialises. The breadth of the programme also signals confidence that China’s outbound and inbound mobility will continue its post-pandemic rebound through the second half of 2026.
