China Southern Airlines Posts 4.81% YoY Traffic Growth in August 2026, Passenger Load Factor Climbs to 88.01%

Bulletin Express
Yesterday

China Southern Airlines Company Limited released its key operating statistics for August 2026, showing continued expansion in passenger activity alongside mixed cargo performance.

Passenger Operations • Passenger traffic (RPK) rose 4.81 % year-on-year (YoY) to 33.51 billion seat-kilometres, outpacing a 3.61 % increase in capacity (ASK) to 38.08 billion seat-kilometres. • Domestic RPK grew 3.42 %, while international RPK surged 9.52 %. Regional routes declined 3.68 %. • The overall passenger load factor improved 1.01 percentage points YoY to 88.01 %, with domestic routes up 1.42 points to 88.94 %. • Total passengers carried reached 17.34 million, up 2.73 % YoY, including 15.09 million domestic and 2.07 million international travellers.

Cargo Operations • Cargo capacity (ATK – Cargo & Mail) slipped 1.65 % YoY to 1.63 billion tonne-kilometres. • Cargo and mail traffic (RTK – Cargo & Mail) eased 0.21 % YoY to 0.84 billion tonne-kilometres. • Despite lower volumes, the cargo and mail load factor edged up 0.74 percentage points to 51.58 %, reflecting improved space utilisation.

Year-to-Date Snapshot (January–August 2026) • Cumulative passenger traffic totalled 229.24 billion RPK, a 3.78 % YoY increase, against a 4.01 % rise in capacity. • The year-to-date passenger load factor stood at 85.34 %, marginally down 0.19 percentage points. • Cargo and mail traffic reached 6.69 billion tonne-kilometres, up 2.78 % YoY, on a 1.20 % capacity expansion.

Fleet Developments During August, the Group added five aircraft (two A320NEO, one A321NEO and two B737-8) and retired two (one B787-8 and one B737-700). As of 31 August 2026, China Southern Airlines operated 977 commercial aircraft, comprising 418 Airbus A320 family, 40 COMAC C909/C919, 37 Boeing 787, 34 Boeing 777, 391 Boeing 737, and 45 wide-body Airbus A330/A350 jets.

The disclosed figures are based on the company’s internal statistics and may be adjusted in subsequent periodic reports. Investors should exercise caution when interpreting the data.

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