Hunan's airports handled 7.084 million passenger trips and 48,000 flights during the 2026 summer travel rush, with a daily peak of 127,000 passenger trips, according to the Hunan Airport Group on September 1.

Changsha Airport handled nearly 6 million passenger trips and 39,000 flights during the period, with daily flights consistently above 660 at peak times. The airport saw passenger throughput exceeding 100,000 in 17 days, with an 89.3% load factor. International and regional passenger throughput and flights reached 211,000 and 1,391 respectively, rising 14.5% and 19.7% year on year.

In the domestic market, airlines based at the airports have boosted their transport capacity. Okay Airways and Air Travel added 477 and 194 flights respectively during the summer rush. The "Hunan Express Flight Services" operated 83 flights daily on average, bound from Changsha to Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Hainan. Among them, 32 flights on the Changsha-Beijing route were operated daily, with the flight frequency surpassing high-speed railway service and up 20.1% year on year. Changsha airport also added new destinations like Altay and Yining, expanding its coverage in Xinjiang to 11 destinations, with flights to Xinjiang rising 50% and the Urumqi route providing high-frequency"bus-style" operations. Capacity on the popular routes to Lhasa, Manzhouli, and Hailar was also enhanced.

Capacity enhancement was also seen in regional airports. For example, Zhangjiajie airport increased flights to Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou; Hengyang airport added flights to Chengdu; and, Yueyang and Yongzhou airports both recorded passenger growth.

International routes expanded steadily. A total of 261,000 international and regional passenger trips and 1,753 flights were handled across the province, up 6.5% and 9.8% year on year. Changsha ranked among China's top 20 popular destinations for foreign travelers. It added flight frequencies on the routes to Southeast Asian cities including Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and launched 17 international routes to 13 countries across Asia, Africa, and Europe, making it the only city in central China operating direct flights to Nairobi.
 
Zhangjiajie furthered its expansion in the South Korean market with over 80 flights to and from the country weekly and 91.5% passenger trips made by foreign travelers.