61 Extra Flights Offered Between China And Malaysia During CNY

photo: PelanconganKini

BEIJING, Jan 14 (Bernama) -- A total of 61 extra flights with 19,486 seats available on a single trip will be provided between Malaysia and China during the coming Spring Festival travel rush, or 'Chunyun' in Chinese, beginning Jan 16.

Malaysia was one of the top travel destinations, hence additional flights would be provided during the festive season, Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) information services director Zhong Ning told Bernama on Tuesday. Currently, a total of 222 flights were available between both countries, he said.

'Chunyun', which begins from Jan 16 to Feb 24, has always been described as the largest human migration on earth. It is the busiest travel period in China when people across the nation return home for the Chinese New Year celebration.

This year, about 42 million passengers were expected to travel by air during the 40-day Spring Festival peak travel season, up 10 per cent year-on-year, CAAC deputy administrator Xia Xinghua told a press conference on Tuesday.

"The areas which contribute most to the traffic, include Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, southwestern and northeastern China, and neighbouring countries such as Thailand, Korea and Malaysia," he said.

Meanwhile, with the Chinese New Year just two weeks away from now, more than 3.62 billion trips are expected to be made during the festive season. The number of passengers was expected to increase by more than 200 million from a year earlier, said deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, Lian Weiliang.

The daily transport volume was expected to reach 81.9 million, an increase of 5.8 per cent compared to the previous year, he told a press conference here Tuesday. About 257.8 million passengers are expected to travel by train during the festive rush season, up 7.9 per cent year-on-year, while 43 million are expected to travel by water transport, up 1.1 per cent from a year earlier.

This year, China's railway ministry has opened an official website www.12306.cn for the first time to facilitate the purchase of train tickets. It was reported that from Jan 1 to 7, more than one billion railway tickets were sold daily.
-bernama.