China starts new plan to boost flight numbers

BEIJING - China's top civil aviation authorities on Sunday began implementing a new program to increase flight number by 8.3 percent during the summer and autumn in the world's fastest growing air market.

The new flight season program, which remains effective from March 31 until October 26 this year, will greatly boost the aviation transport capacity, particularly in aviation hubs like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, according to a statement by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on its website.

The rescheduled plan opens 75 more domestic air routes and an additional of 28  international courses, along with three more routes linking the mainland with Hong Kong or Macao.

The implementation of the new plan will increase China's weekly domestic flight number for 32 domestic airline companies to 48,552, up 8.3 percent from previous year, according to CAAC.

After the adjustment, China now has 4,582 flights carried out by domestic airline companies to 117  international cities every week and another 4,870 flights operated by international air carriers between 36 Chinese cities and 114 cities in 55 countries per week, according to CAAC.