BEIJING — China's civil aviation industry expects to see passenger trips recover to around 90 percent of the pre-epidemic level in 2021, the country's civil aviation regulator said on March 15.

The volume of cargo and mail transported by air is also expected to bounce back to pre-epidemic level, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said, urging efforts to help aviation companies narrow losses and expand profits.

The latest CAAC data showed that the country's civil aviation industry handled about 23.95 million passenger trips in February, a jump of 187.1 percent year-on-year.

Last month, transport volume of air cargo and mail increased 54.7 percent from a year earlier to 459,000 tonnes, according to the CAAC.

Deeming COVID-19 as the biggest uncertainty facing the civil aviation industry, the regulator said it will continue implementing tax and fee cuts and favorable loan policy to further boost recovery.

China's civil aviation industry handled 420 million passenger trips in 2020, which is 63.3 percent of that in 2019. It remained the world's second-largest in terms of passenger trips for the 15th consecutive year, CAAC data showed.