China Eastern Airlines gears up for Spring Festival travel rush

China Eastern Airlines is gearing up for the 2025 Spring Festival travel rush, with over 90 million passenger journeys expected by air alone during the extended 40-day travel rush.

"We're anticipating an early travel peak, rapid traffic growth, and booming demand for winter sports and outbound tourism," said Hu Shijie, deputy general manager of Hongqiao passenger service center, ground service department of China Eastern Airlines. "The convergence of holiday travelers visiting family, migrant worker movements, student vacations and leisure trips will see passenger volumes surge."

To meet the seasonal rush, China Eastern plans an uplift of over 9,000 flights compared to normal schedules. The carrier will deploy 804 aircraft including 10 C919 aircraft, operating 124,000 total flights with nearly 21 million seats during the travel rush — respective increases of 4.18 percent and 4.76 percent year-over-year.