China Flight Data Platform statistics show that in February 2026, a total of 52 routes between China and Japan had all flights canceled, with a cumulative total of 2514 flights to Japan suspended, resulting in a cancellation rate of 48.5%.
The affected routes involve major outbound cities in China such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, as well as airports in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Okinawa, and Sapporo in Japan.
The cancellation rate of flights between China and Japan has been steadily increasing since the end of 2025. Data indicates that in January 2026, the cancellation rate of flights from China to Japan had already reached 47.2%, a 7.8 percentage point increase compared to December 2025. By February, it further rose to 48.5%. During the first week of the Spring Festival travel rush (February 1st to 7th), the number of round-trip flights between China and Japan decreased by 49.2% compared to the previous year, with actual flights reduced by 1292.
Among the canceled flights are Beijing to Nagoya, Nantong to Osaka, and Beijing to Okinawa. Simultaneously, direct flights from China to 10 local airports in Japan such as Sendai, Ibaraki, and Saga have also been reduced to zero, indicating a near-complete halt in direct air connections between second and third-tier cities in China and Japan.
Japanese Prime Minister Koji Hayashi’s remarks on “Taiwan Strait situation” in November 2025 sparked a strong reaction from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), leading to a warning to Chinese citizens not to travel to Japan. Several Chinese airlines subsequently introduced policies for refunds and itinerary changes for flights to Japan, resulting in a massive wave of ticket cancellations, with over 540,000 tickets canceled within 48 hours.
With the CCP canceling a large number of flights, how are Japanese netizens responding?
A “Zhihu” blogger recently shared comments from Japanese netizens: “Most of the flights between Japan and China being halted is actually good news for Japanese people. It shows an overreaction and a sense of panic from one side. China seems puzzled about how to ease off its raised fist, caught between confusion and the need to maintain a tough stance domestically, thus only acting within the scope where the actual impact is not significant. The more criticisms China makes towards Japan, the more it will find itself in a passive position. Japan just needs to observe quietly, China will act and crumble on its own. The outcome is already clear.”
“I enjoy traveling within Japan, so this is good news for me. I hope China continues to maintain its current attitude no matter what.”
“Since they are so angry, instead of these petty actions like canceling local flights, why not just cut off all connections at once? Wouldn’t that be better?”
“Provocative actions like ‘If we do this, Japan will apologize, and if we do that, they will bow down’ are very disrespectful, in my opinion.”
“I sincerely hope Prime Minister Hayashi continues to respond with a firm attitude in the future.”