During the first week (January 13 to 19) of the Spring Festival transport season, civil aviation operations were generally steady nationwide, and domestic airlines operated 67 thousand flights in total, with a year-on-year increase of 10.7%; a cumulative 10.383 million passengers were transported, with a year-on-year increase of 15.2%; the number of seats provided was 13.339 million, with a year-on-year increase of 11.6%.

The statistics show that during the first 7 days of the Spring Festival transport season, the top 10 passenger sources were Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Kunming, Xi’an, Chongqing, Hangzhou and Haikou, which was the same as in2016. These ten cities sent off 4.941 million passengers altogether, accounting for 47.6% of the national total. Beijing and Shanghai, which were the two biggest passenger sources, sent off 863 thousand passengers and 857 thousand passengers respectively, accounting for a combined share of 16.6% of the national total.

It is expected that the civil aviation sector will operate 470 thousand flights and provide more than 70 million seats during the Spring Festival transport season of 2017; the passenger traffic is expected to reach 58.3 million, with a year-on-year increase of 10%, the highest among all modes of transport.