China's Civil Aviation Up 6.4% and Electricity Use Rises 5.3% in First Half of 2026

China's civil aviation sector recorded a 6.4% year‑on‑year increase in total transport volume during the first half of 2026, reaching 83.37 billion tonne‑kilometres. The industry handled 380 million passengers (up 1%) and 5.073 million tonnes of freight (up 6%). Seven new international passenger routes and 19 cargo routes were added, with passenger traffic to Central Asia (+79.8%), South Asia (+42.3%) and Latin America (+78.5%) expanding sharply. Flight regularity hit 93.5% and the daily average rose to about 18,000 flights, supporting a daily passenger flow above 2 million.

Meanwhile, China's overall electricity consumption grew 5.3% in the same period to roughly 5,100 billion kWh. The surge was led by data‑center services, which jumped 44% to 49.4 billion kWh, electric‑vehicle charging (+56.9% to 81 billion kWh), and high‑tech manufacturing (+9.8% to 600.8 billion kWh, accounting for 24.3% of manufacturing electricity). The tertiary sector saw the fastest rise, with an 8% increase to 991.6 billion kWh. Analysts noted that AI‑generated video production can consume as much power as recharging ten smartphones.