Flights within China should fully recover by the start of next month according to a global travel data firm.
Air travel has been picking up gradually since the coronavirus grounded the majority of planes in February.
This month domestic arrivals at Chinese airports reached 86% of 2019 levels according to figures from ForwardKeys.
Its prediction is a glimmer of hope for the airline industry which is suffering mass layoffs and losses.
By mid-February the majority of flights within China were cancelled as it took measures to control the spread of the virus.
As virus cases reduced, more flights were re-instated and bookings are now back to 98%, with most being for travel in mid to late August.
"This is a highly significant moment because it is the first time, since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, that a major segment of the aviation market anywhere in the world has returned to pre-pandemic levels," said Olivier Ponti at ForwardKeys.
Its forecast that domestic flights will fully recover by early September is based on a number of factors, such as keeping the pandemic under control and the continued use of "aggressive price promotions". (BBC website)
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