China's Big 3 airlines shaken out of status quo by a cooling Chinese economy

China's domestic aviation market is vast, even mystifying. Although 12 mainland carriers have scheduled international services - the largest amount for any country besides the United States - most have a low profile externally, where China's top four airlines comprise 86% of international seats.

And then there are another 11 mainland carriers still nestled within China's boundaries, giving the country 23 scheduled carriers compared to the 27 in the US, still a much larger market.

Overall, China's domestic market is half the size of the US, but through expansion, consolidation and more expansion, China has created three formidable main carriers as well as more balanced medium and small carriers. The top 10 carriers in the US account for 96% of domestic capacity, but in China the top 10 represent 87%.

The average top 10 US carrier has 54% more domestic seats than the average top 10 Chinese carrier, but the 11th through 20th biggest Chinese carrier has 40% more seats than its respective US counterpart.

The following is Part 2 of extracts from the special China edition of Airline Leader, CAPA's management journal for CEOs. Please click on the side panel on this page to obtain full access to the soft copy.