Air travel fastest growing mode of transport during Spring Festival

Air travel recorded the fastest growth among all means of transport during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush – also known as chunyun – which started on Jan 21, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

In the first 22 days of the rush, air travelers made a total of nearly 39.48 million trips, up 10.4 percent year-on-year, said Yu Biao, deputy director of the administration's transport department.

He made the remarks at a press conference on Wednesday.

During the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday, domestic airlines handled 111,305 flights and about 12.58 million trips, amounting to a year-on-year increase of six percent and 10.6 percent, respectively.

Over 83 percent of these flights left on time, he said.

On Sunday, the last day of holiday, 2 million trips were made by plane, which hit a daily record high as travelers returned to work after the Spring Festival holiday, Yu said.