China reports 12.8m air trips during National Day holiday

BEIJING - China saw a steady passenger air transport growth during the National Day holiday that ended Tuesday, official data showed.

During the week-long holiday, 12.8 million passenger trips were made, up 5.1 percent year-on-year, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

A total of 114,455 flights served passengers, which stood at 16,351 on average daily, climbing 3.08 percent year-on-year. The average passenger load factor hit 84.9 percent while the flight punctuality rate reached 92.16 percent.

Flights with high passenger load factors mainly departed from popular tourism destinations such as Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Xi'an, Sanya, Lijiang, Lhasa and Guilin, said the CAAC.

Return trips from tourism destinations such as Xishuangbanna, Sanya, Lijiang, Guilin, Wuyi Mountain and Jinggang Mountain surged in the last two days of the holiday. A return peak appeared on Oct 7, with 1.9 million passenger trips made.