On March 26, 2026, Brussels Airport (BRU) celebrated the launch of Air China's flights to the airport, connecting the Belgian capital with Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK), a route also served by Hainan Airlines, and Chengdu Tianfu International Airport (TFU).
However, Air China is not the only Chinese airline to have launched or resumed connections between China and the European Economic Area (EEA) that were lost during the pandemic. Capacity between the two regions will exceeds pre-pandemic levels during the summer 2026 season.
According to Cirium’s Diio Mi, between March and October 2026, 10 Chinese airlines, which include some of the country’s biggest carriers, will operate 46% more flights from China to the EEA, resulting in a capacity increase of 56% compared to the same period in 2019, measured in available seat kilometers (ASKs).
Meanwhile, European airlines have cut capacity to China by 65% compared to 2019. Four airlines no longer fly to the country: Iberia, LOT Polish Airlines, SAS, and XL Airways, which went bankrupt in 2019.
Overall, ASKs from China to the EEA are up more than 6% in March to October compared to the corresponding period in 2019, while during the same period in 2025, they were down 7%.
Some airports have seen substantial growth from China. For example, Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport (BUD), which only had 63 flights to China during the eight-month period in 2019, will now see 709 during the same period in 2026, with ASKs increasing tenfold.
Airspace access driving the difference in recovery
The discrepancy in recovery between Chinese and European airlines operating between China and Europe partly stems from the fact that Chinese airlines have retained access to Russian airspace, which was closed off for Western airlines after their governments sanctioned Russia and its aerospace industry for its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
For example, Air France’s flights from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) to PEK in March 2019 had a scheduled block time of 10 hours and 15 minutes, while in March 2026, it has increased to 11 hours and 15 minutes.
In comparison, Air China flight 876 from CDG to PEK has a scheduled block time of 10 hours and five minutes, per Cirium’s Diio Mi.
The airspace restrictions give Chinese airlines a fundamental cost advantage over their European counterparts.
Rytis Beresnevicius
