China Eastern Airlines has issued a passenger advisory confirming two system maintenance windows: 00:00–01:30 Beijing time on 18 January 2026 and 00:30–01:00 on 27 January.
During each shutdown, ticket booking, rescheduling functions and seat-selection services on the carrier’s website, mobile app and WeChat account will be unavailable.
Certain class-upgrade options at check-in will also be affected on the second date.
The airline apologised for inconvenience and urged customers to finalise transactions in advance.
The work is part of a wider upgrade by state-owned IT provider TravelSky aimed at boosting system resilience ahead of the Spring-Festival peak, when daily domestic passenger volumes routinely top three million.
Corporate travel managers should flag the blackout to employees likely to make late-night itinerary changes, especially those connecting through Shanghai Hongqiao’s red-eye bank.
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Agents holding group PNRs are advised to push updates before 23:30 on 17 January.
While routine, the outage illustrates ongoing pressure on Chinese carriers to harden their digital infrastructure after several high-profile outages in 2024 left tens of thousands of travellers stranded.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China now requires airlines to publish maintenance notices at least 48 hours in advance and to provide hotline alternatives during downtimes.
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