Chinese airlines carried up to 8.55 million passengers during the week-long Chinese Lunar New Year holiday from Feb. 7-13, according to preliminary statistics released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on Feb. 13.

More than 70,000 flights were operated during the week-long Spring Festival holiday, an increase of 6.9 percent over the same period last year. Airlines have deployed sufficient capacity for the holiday travel rush, adding 6,200 flights and offering 11.3 million seats totally.

Meanwhile, air passengers increased 3 percent year on year from 8.25 million to 8.55 million.

Data shows that large departing passengers' flow was handled at airports in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Haikou, Sanya, Chengdu, Chongqing, Kunming and Urumqi. The passenger load factor on departure flights at Haikou, Sanya and Xishuang Banna averaged at 90 percent during the week-long holiday.

The passenger load factor remained high on Hong Kong and Taiwan routes, as well as some international routes to South Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.

Read original article