China Southern Boeing 737-8
With the inaugural MRO Greater China event in Beijing taking place May 26-28, Flight Friday looks at how the three largest Chinese operators’ flights have performed over recent years.
China Southern Airlines leads in monthly flight operations. Its flights during the first quarter (Q1) of 2026 are up nearly 5% compared to Q1 2024. This growth mirrors the carrier’s fleet expansion, driven by additions to its Boeing 737 MAX fleet and increased deployment of Comac-built ARJ21 (C909) and C919 aircraft, boosting aggregate monthly flight cycles.
China Eastern Airlines accounts for the second greatest number of monthly flights. China Eastern has seen a 6% increase from Q1 2024 to Q1 2026. China Eastern’s fleet, though, has grown 10% compared to Q1 2024, with the addition of 31 ARJ21s and nine additional C919s. China Eastern also added 15 Airbus A320neo aircraft; these were almost like-for-like replacements for outgoing, older A320s.
Air China rounds out the top three. Air China has grown the most since Q1 2024, with an almost 8% increase. Again, this should come as no surprise, as it is linked to in-service fleet growth, which grew 10%. Growth, similarly, came from Comac-built aircraft and an almost doubling of its A321neo fleet.
With these three operators alone having over 500 737 NGs and A320s that are between 10 and 15 years old, the maintenance, repair, overhaul (MRO) window is truly open over the next decade, with Aviation Week’s 2026 Fleet & MRO Forecast anticipating almost 3,000 aircraft heavy maintenance checks on the 737NG and classic A320 fleets by 2035.
This data was put together using Aviation Week’s Tracked Aircraft Utilization database.
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