China sees over 12m air trips during Spring Festival holiday

BEIJING - More Chinese traveled by air during the just-concluded week-long Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, official data showed Monday.

A total of 12.59 million air passenger trips were made from Feb 4 to 10, up 10.6 percent from last year's holiday, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

Around 111,000 flights were dispatched during the period, up 6 percent year-on-year.

Popular tourist destinations like Haikou, Lijiang, and Harbin saw busy airports. The national travel rush peaked on Feb 10 with daily air trips reaching a historic high of 2.03 million, according to the CAAC.

From Jan 21 to Feb 10, air travelers in China made 37.46 million trips, up 10.4 percent from the Spring Festival travel rush last year.

During the 40-day travel rush from Jan 21 to March 1, air travelers are expected to make 73 million trips, up 12 percent year-on-year, the CAAC said.

Traveling by air has become increasingly popular in China thanks to expanding air networks and rising household income.