An Air China plane takes off from Beijing Daxing International Airport. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]

China's civil aviation sector has maintained good momentum to continue its recovery in the first half of this year, officials and experts said.

"The industry has generally recovered to the level before the (COVID-19) epidemic," Song Zhiyong, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said at a recent work conference. From January to June, 284 million passenger trips were made, about 88.2 percent of the volume for the same period in 2019. The volume of civil aviation mail and cargo transport was 3.28 million metric tons, roughly 93 percent of the matching period in 2019.

Li Xiaojin, a professor of aviation economics at the Civil Aviation University of China in Tianjin, said the changes to China's COVID management measures had unleashed strong demand for domestic travel, including for visits to family and friends, study, medical treatment and business.

Beijing Daxing International Airport is expected to break its record for the summer by handling 55,400 domestic and international flights with 7.9 million passenger trips.

The 2023 summer season for flights began on July 1 and will end on August 31. During this time, about 70,000 flights handling 10.44 million passenger trips are expected at Beijing Capital International Airport.