China-South Korea flights lead overseas routes in October, recovery reaches 114.5%: report
Passengers wait for check-in at Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, May 1, 2026. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)
Flights from the Chinese mainland to South Korea topped all overseas routes in October, followed by Thailand and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, industry data provider Flight Master told the Global Times on Monday.
Flights to South Korea last month rebounded to 114.5 percent of pre-pandemic levels, outstripping the same period in 2019, according to the data.
In comparison, flights to countries such as Japan and the Philippines remained below 70 percent of the same period in 2019.
Meanwhile, air routes to South Korea continue to expand. Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport recently increased the frequency of flights to the country. It increased frequency on its Seoul routes and restored services to Jeju on October 27. The moves give the airport full coverage of major South Korean cities including Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Cheongju and Jeju.
The growing air connectivity between China and South Korea has coincided with a surge in people-to-people exchanges as bilateral ties have warmed.
A Gallup Korea survey commissioned by the Chinese Embassy in South Korea and released on Friday showed that nearly three-quarters of South Koreans support closer ties with China, while more than 80 percent back deeper bilateral economic and trade cooperation.
Conducted from October 1 to 7, the poll surveyed 1,000 South Korean adults across different age groups, genders, regions and political leanings. The results showed that 73.8 percent supported the development of bilateral relations, including 35.5 percent who said that they hoped for even closer ties. Support for economic and trade cooperation stood at 80.8 percent, with 44.2 percent calling for further deepening of such cooperation.
Warming bilateral ties are also translating into deeper industrial cooperation.
The first vessel under China Merchants Energy Shipping's second-phase liquefied natural gas project with QatarEnergy was named in South Korea on October 28 and 29, marking progress in cooperation between Chinese fleet owners and South Korean shipbuilders.
China has been South Korea's largest trading partner for 22 consecutive years, while South Korea is China's second-largest trading partner and a major source of foreign investment. According to Chinese official statistics, bilateral trade reached $385.8 billion in the first nine months of this year, exceeding last year's full-year total and representing a year-on-year increase of 59.3 percent, Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Dai Bing wrote in a signed article published by Yonhap News.