Chinese Airlines Cancels 48 Japan Routes in NW25 – 21DEC25 Update

Published at 0400PST / 1200GMT 23DEC25

Refer to this post for Chinese version / 中文點選此頁.

Chinese carriers earlier this month continues to reduce overall service to Japan for the remainder of Northern winter 2025/26 season, with latest round of reductions/cancellations in effect starting this week.

Based on OAG schedules analyser data updated on 21DEC25 and AeroRoutes research, there are 48 nonstop routes being cancelled with no alternate nonstop flight options, including flights served by Japanese and Cambodian carriers. Chinese media cites 46 routes since the cancellation only highlights the period of 21DEC25 – 04JAN26, while AeroRoutes’ research covers up to late-February 2026.

On the Chinese side, number of airports with service to Japan has been reduced from 36 to 24, with following airports losing nonstop service to Japan: Changsha, Guiyang, Hefei, Kunming, Linyi, Nanchang, Nantong, Ningbo, Shijiazhuang, Yangzhou, Yantai, Yuncheng. For Japan, number of airports serving China now stands at 8, instead of 20, with following airports losing nonstop service to China: Ibaraki, Kagoshima, Kobe, Komatsu, Nagasaki, Niigata, Okayama, Saga, Sendai, Shizuoka, Takamatsu, Toyama.

Summary of routes cancellations up to 21DEC25 as follows:
Beijing Capital – Nagoya
Beijing Capital – Okinawa
Beijing Daxing – Osaka Kansai
Beijing Daxing – Sapporo New Chitose
Changsha – Osaka Kansai
Changsha – Tokyo Narita
Chengdu Tianfu – Osaka Kansai
Chengdu Tianfu – Sapporo New Chitose (Previously scheduled from 02JAN26)
Chongqing – Osaka Kansai
Dalian – Hiroshima
Dalian – Nagoya
Fuzhou – Nagoya
Fuzhou – Okinawa
Fuzhou – Osaka Kansai
Guiyang – Osaka Kansai
Haikou – Osaka Kansai
Harbin – Niigata (Previously scheduled from 12JAN26)
Harbin – Osaka Kansai
Hefei – Osaka Kansai
Kunming – Tokyo Narita
Linyi – Osaka Kansai
Nanchang – Osaka Kansai
Nanjing – Kobe
Nantong – Osaka Kansai
Ningbo – Osaka Kansai
Qingdao – Shizuoka (cancelled from 13JAN26)
Shanghai Pu Dong – Ibaraki
Shanghai Pu Dong – Kagoshima
Shanghai Pu Dong – Kobe
Shanghai Pu Dong – Komatsu
Shanghai Pu Dong – Nagasaki
Shanghai Pu Dong – Niigata
Shanghai Pu Dong – Okayama
Shanghai Pu Dong – Saga
Shanghai Pu Dong – Sendai
Shanghai Pu Dong – Shizuoka
Shanghai Pu Dong – Takamatsu (cancelled from 04JAN26)
Shanghai Pu Dong – Toyama
Shenyang – Osaka Kansai
Shenzhen – Sapporo New Chitose
Shijiazhuang – Tokyo Narita
Wuhan – Osaka Kansai
Xi’An – Nagoya
Xi’An – Osaka Kansai
Xi’An – Sapporo New Chitose
Yangzhou – Osaka Kansai
Yantai – Tokyo Narita
Yuncheng – Nagoya

Based on the week of 18-24JAN26, Chinese carriers reduced overall (one-way) flight from China to Japan from 1106 weekly with 210084 seats (as of 16NOV25) to 510 weekly with 99275 seats (as of 21DEC25). This represents 54% flight reductions and 53% capacity reductions. For Osaka Kansai, service during the same week offered by Chinese carriers has been reduced from 513 weekly to 172 weekly, while capacity reduced from 94190 to 32381 seats (66.5% flights and 65.6% capacity reductions). Tokyo Narita sees reduction from 210 to 147 weekly, while capacity reduced from 42050 to 28875 seats, average of 30-31% reductions.

Other notable changes filed by Chinese carriers that were not highlighted on AeroRoutes:
Beijing Daxing – Osaka Kansai eff 11JAN26 Juneyao Airlines service remains cancelled (Cancellations previously scheduled 22DEC25 – 10JAN26)
Guangzhou – Osaka Kansai eff 23DEC25 9 Air reduces from 3 to 1 weekly, 737-800 (The airline now only serves Japan once a week)
Hangzhou – Osaka Kansai
eff 21DEC25 Xiamen Airlines 1 daily service cancelled
eff 02JAN26 Loong Air plans to resume its sole service to Japan, however it will only operate 2 weekly A320 instead of 1 daily

Jinan – Osaka Kansai eff 22DEC25 Shandong Airlines service reduce from 2 to 1 daily, 737-800
Qingdao – Osaka Kansai eff 22DEC25 Shandong Airlines service reduce from 3 to 2 daily, 737-800
Shanghai Pu Dong – Komatsu eff 05MAR26 China Eastern tentatively resumes service with 2 weekly A319 (cancelled from 22DEC25)
Shanghai Pu Dong – Nagasaki eff 02MAR26 China Eastern tentatively resumes service with 2 weekly A319 (cancelled from 20DEC25)
Shanghai Pu Dong – Osaka Kansai eff 12JAN26 Juneyao Airlines maintains 19 weekly flights, instead of originally filed 35 weekly as of 16NOV25 (Reductions previously scheduled 22DEC25 – 11JAN26)
Tianjin – Osaka Kansai eff 19JAN26 Tianjin Airlines reduces service from 2 to 1 weekly, A320

Other notes:
Shanghai Hongqiao – Tokyo Haneda In previous AeroRoutes report, it stated Shanghai Airlines operates 1 daily flight with 787-9. This should’ve been corrected to 737-800

Separately, with China Eastern’ Japan service reductions being updated to 28FEB26 inclusive, its international and regional routes operated by Airbus A319 aircraft in January and February 2026 are:
Nanjing – Kaohsiung 02JAN26
Nanjing – Taichung 07FEB26 – 28MAR26 1 weekly
Nanjing – Taipei Taoyuan 02FEB26 – 23FEB26 1 weekly
Shanghai Pu Dong – Hiroshima 4 weekly (3 weekly 20JAN26 – 02FEB26)