BEIJING, 10th January, 2024 (WAM) -- China plans to boost international flights for this year's Spring Festival travel season, especially to neighbouring regions, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) announced Monday.
The 40-day Lunar New Year travel rush, spanning from 26th January to 5th March, is expected to witness a record-breaking number of over 80 million individual air trips, with an average of two million per day - marking a significant increase of 9.8% compared to the figures in 2019.
Additionally, the daily flight frequency will reach up to an impressive count of 16,500 flights, reported China Daily.
"Neighbour destinations like Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia should see outbound demand spikes, along with more families and students flying abroad," said CAAC's Liang Nan, citing eased visa policies expanding travel interest.
Airlines applied to add over 2,500 holiday international flights centred on Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea. Over 600 more flights target Japan and Thailand specifically, over 200 flights added to Korea, 150 to Singapore, and 100 each to Malaysia and Indonesia. More flights are also planned for Oceania and Europe, while cross-strait flights hit 3,350 weekly.
China's weekly international round-trips totaled 4,782 last year - 62.8% of pre-pandemic levels. CAAC's Liang Nan said they will keep assisting airlines in adding flights to serve demand.
CAAC head Song Zhiyong said last week China supports continued international aviation recovery this year, aiming for 6,000 weekly flights by end-2023 - around 80% of pre-COVID volumes.