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1st LD-Writethru: China's air traffic up during Spring Festival

Xinhua, February 25, 2015 Adjust font size:

Official data indicate how the plane is fast catching up with the train as the favored method of travel for the world's largest human migration, the travel rush around China's Spring Festival holiday.

Chinese airlines operated over 60,000 flights during the week-long holiday, up 7.8 percent from last year, according to an article posted on the Ministry of Transport's website on Wednesday.

On both Feb. 23 and Feb. 24, the airlines carried more than 1.35 million passengers, an all-time daily high during this annual travel rush.

Chinese passengers made 8.25 million trips by air during the week, up 7.3 percent year on year, the article said, quoting data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

The number is about 85 percent of all railway trips made nationwide during the Spring Festival. The ministry estimated on Tuesday that about 9.7 million trips were made by train during the holiday.

Back in 2008, air passenger traffic was only about one-ninth of railway passenger traffic during the Spring Festival, but more and more Chinese people can afford air travel.

According to Beijing Capital International Airport, some 1.6 million passengers traveled via the airport during the seven-day holiday, up 7.14 percent from the previous year.

Over 10,540 aircraft departed from or arrived at the airport over the past week, up 6.69 percent on the previous year.

On Wednesday, the first working day after the holiday, some 1,675 aircraft will depart from or arrive at Beijing Capital Airport.

Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chongqing and Urumqi were among the hot domestic destinations during the Spring Festival, according to the CAAC, while flights to and from Hong Kong and Taiwan remained popular.

Meanwhile, flights to and from the Republic of Korea and Japan took the lead among international flights in terms of passenger attendance rates.

In the wake of the recent high-profile incidents involving Asian airlines, the CAAC this year also strengthened monitoring and coordination of eight leading carriers including Air China, China Eastern and China Southern and 13 key Chinese airports including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

There were no major air traffic accidents during the Spring Festival, said the State Administration of Work Safety on Wednesday.

The Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, which fell on Feb. 19 this year, is traditionally a time for family reunions.

Every year, tens of millions of Chinese return to the cities where they work or attend school after reuniting with family during the week of festivities.

The pre- and post-holiday travel rush known as "chunyun" in Chinese has been called the world's largest human migration. Endi