Beijing's two airports to handle three million passenger trips in holiday period

Beijing's two airports are expected to handle about three million passenger trips during the upcoming National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday from Wednesday to Oct 8, underscoring the strong momentum in China's tourism and air travel market, according to the civil aviation and airport authorities.

According to the North China Regional Administration of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, Beijing Capital International Airport and Beijing Daxing International Airport are scheduled to operate a combined 17,376 flights over the eight-day holiday, up 1.2 percent year-on-year. Outbound travel is forecast to peak on Sept 30 and Oct 1, with return traffic surging on Oct 7 and 8.

Domestic travel demand will center on routes linking Beijing with Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Chengdu, northwestern China and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, while international demand will be the strongest on routes to Japan and South Korea.

Beijing Capital Airport is expected to handle 1.67 million passenger trips, averaging 208,800 daily. Popular destinations include Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Sanya as well as Tokyo, Osaka, London and Seoul.

Daxing airport is projected to process nearly 1.31 million passenger journeys, a 6.1 percent increase from a year earlier, with over 140,000 border entries and exits expected. Osaka, Seoul, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Moscow, Singapore, Doha and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region are among the top overseas destinations.

The two airports are rolling out a range of measures to improve services. Capital airport will provide free baggage storage for foreign travelers holding 24/144-hour visa-free transit permits. Daxing airport has extended metro operation hours, adjusted bus capacity to match passenger flow, and recently launched a dedicated line to Universal Beijing Resort.

On a national scale, civil aviation traffic is set to climb to a record high for the season. Passenger volume during the combined holiday is forecast to set a new high by reaching 19.2 million, up 3.6 percent from last year, said Xiong Jie, chief flight safety inspector at the Civil Aviation Administration of China. He noted that overlapping travel demands will bring another surge following the summer peak.