New air travel season kicks off with more domestic flights

China started the new air travel season on Sunday, with more domestic flights, the top civil aviation regulator said.

The new season will last from Sunday to Oct 30. One hundred and sixty airlines from home and abroad have scheduled 101,606 passenger and freight flights every week, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said.

In the domestic market, 92,756 flights are planned every week, a year-on-year increase of 10.7 percent, with 90,460 passenger and 2,296 cargo flights.

Some 2,234 flights are scheduled between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao every week, with 1,921 passenger flights.

Airlines scheduled 6,616 international, 644 passenger and 5,972 freight flights every week.

International passenger flights will reach 75 cities in 57 countries.

According to the administration, the number of passenger international flights has remained at about 3 percent of the total number before the COVID-19 outbreak for epidemic prevention.

Airlines are encouraged to operate air capacity with more flexibly, allowing adding temporary flights, opening more domestic flights, especially feed routes, and improving the connectivity of civil aviation.

Airlines plan to open more domestic air routes and adjust the air network.

Some 322 domestic air routes are newly opened, operating 3,376 flights by 38 airlines every week. The flights are mainly between airports in third and fourth-tier cities and in second-tier cities. The third and fourth-tier city airports include Linyi in East China's Shandong province and Baotou in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region. Second-tier city airports include those in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality, Wuhan in Central China's Hubei province and Xiamen in East China's Fujian province.

In the new season, more flights will be operated at Beijing Daxing International Airport, with 886 flights every day, covering 471 domestic airlines.

All flights to and from Beijing operated by China Eastern will be transferred to Beijing Daxing airport, except the Beijing-Shanghai Express line.

Air China is adding 22 flights, including departures and arrivals, at the new airport.

Beijing Capital International Airport, the older international airport, plans to operate 1,079 flights every day in the new season.

Air China transfers some flights from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2 at Beijing Capital.

During the new season, airports and airlines are providing more services to benefit passengers. Air China provides a special discount plan to passengers over 60.

The Daxing airport offers a "green channel" service for passengers who go to the wrong airport. Passengers can obtain a label at the airport and enjoy priority for a series of services, including security check, taking shuttles and boarding a plane.

Ha Haoran contributed to this story.