More outbound flights expected for Spring Festival

China is planning to increase the number of international flights available for the upcoming Spring Festival holiday, with a particular focus on adding more flights to neighboring countries and regions, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China on Monday.

This year's Spring Festival travel rush period is expected to begin on Jan 26 and end on March 5.

A record of over 80 million individual trips will be made by air during the 40-day rush, averaging 2 million individual trips per day, which is a 9.8 percent increase compared to 2019.

An average of 16,500 flights are scheduled each day during the travel rush.

"During Spring Festival, the outbound travel market is expected to experience a temporary surge. Popular destinations will include neighboring countries and regions such as Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asian countries. Additionally, there will be an increased demand for international trips for families and students," said Liang Nan, director of the transportation department at the civil aviation administration.

She added the implementation of more convenient visa policies has made travel easier, resulting in an expected increase in people's desire to travel abroad.

Japan, South Korea and several cities in Southeast Asia are among the most popular destinations.

According to Liang, airlines have applied to add more than 2,500 scheduled and chartered international flights during the holiday period.

These additional flights will primarily serve Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea and other neighboring countries and regions. Specifically, over 600 flights will be added to Japan and Thailand, over 200 to South Korea, 150 to Singapore, and 100 to Malaysia and Indonesia.

More flights are planned for routes to Oceania and Europe. A total of 25 airlines have arranged 3,350 flights per week to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

Data from the end of last year showed China had 4,782 weekly international round-trip flights, amounting to 62.8 percent of the pre-pandemic number. Chinese airlines operated 3,223.5 flights, equivalent to around 67 percent of the total volume, while international airlines operated 1,558.5 flights.

Liang said that the administration will continue to encourage airlines to add more flights to meet people's travel needs.

Last week, Song Zhiyong, the head of the administration, said China will continue to support the recovery of the international civil aviation market this year. The administration aims to increase the total number of international flights to and from China to 6,000 per week by the end of this year, which is about 80 percent of the pre-pandemic level.

Qi Qi, a senior civil aviation expert, said that with growing demand for international passenger travel, more international routes will inevitably resume this year.