30,000 extra flights OK'd for Spring Festival

The Civil Aviation Administration of China has approved almost 30,000 additional flights during the upcoming Spring Festival travel rush amid growing demand, a senior official said on Wednesday.

The 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, beginning on Thursday, is the largest annual human migration. Some 2.98 billion trips are expected to be made.

The administration has approved 26,394 additional domestic flights and 2,716 international ones. During the travel rush, more than 2.1 million seats can be provided each day, making a total of 840 million seats over the 40-day travel rush, said Wang Zhiqing, deputy head of the administration.

"The seats will completely meet the demand," he added.

The National Development and Reform commission said 650 million trips are expected to made by air during the travel rush.

Wang noted that peaks will fall on Feb 13, 14, 21 and March 3.

Tickets are sufficient. Only 32 percent of departure tickets are sold in the five busiest airports across China in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, according to Wang.

The Beijing Capital International Airport, the busiest in China, will handle 10.96 milliontrips during the travel rush, about one-sixth of flight passengers across the country.

The airport will handle 68,200 flights during the rush and 1,704 flights each day.

The peak will fall on Feb 6, which is expected to handle about 284,000 trips. Return peaks will fall on Feb 21 and March 6.

The airports aim to provide high-quality service during the rush. For example, charging devices have been installed.

"The insufficient power outlet has been a long-time concern. We've been racking our brains to add more charging stations to meet the soaring demand of travelers in recent years," said Lei Lei, the deputy general manager of the service department at the BCIA.

Air China, China's flagship airline, will provide 10 million seats, an increase of 11.84 percent, during the upcoming travel rush.

Additional flights and wide-body jets are arranged on popular routes by Air China. For example, more domestic flights are arranged from Beijing to Sanya, Haikou, Lijiang, Dali and other popular destinations; more international flights are arranged from Beijing to Hawaii and Shanghai to Bangkok.

Wang Xiaoyu contributed to this story.