Flights added for Spring Festival

Domestic carriers have ramped up efforts to launch more flights during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush to cater to growing demand, with the number of flights taken forecast to hit a record high.

Over the 40-day period that began on Jan 14 and concludes on Feb 22, some 9 billion trips are expected to take place, with passenger volumes for both rail and air set to hit record highs, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

A total of 16 domestically developed C919 aircraft are being put into service during the Spring Festival travel rush to satisfy the strong passenger demand. Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines has put 10 C919 jets into service, operating flights such as between Beijing and Shanghai.

State-owned Air China and China Southern Airlines received the C919 aircraft in the latter half of last year, and their C919 planes will provide services for the Spring Festival travel rush for the first time this year.

"The successful commercial operation of the C919 has broken the duopoly of the two major trunk line aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus. A safety operation record and economic improvement are required for the aircraft model to enter the global market," said Lin Zhijie, a civil aviation industry analyst.

For Air China, its three C919 aircraft will operate some 400 flights during the travel rush, operating flights connecting Beijing with Shanghai; Hangzhou, Zhejiang province; Wuhan, Hubei province; Chengdu, Sichuan province; and Chongqing.

The three C919 jets of China Southern will be put into service on flights connecting Guangzhou, Guangdong province with Hangzhou; Shanghai; Chengdu; and Haikou, Hainan province, according to the carrier.

Considering the first use of the C919 during the travel rush, China Southern has selected experienced and skilled flight instructors to serve as leading captains, it said.

Each flight will be equipped with three crewmembers and use China's first independently developed aircraft health monitoring system to monitor the technical and operational status of the aircraft in real time, thus improving the operational safety and reliability of the C919.

"Our ground staff members often encounter some aviation enthusiasts and passengers, and we can feel that people are proud of the C919 planes. The check-in crew will also introduce the flight routes and features of the C919 to passengers," said Yan Shunkang, chief on duty of ground service department of China Southern.

Meanwhile, China Southern has launched new domestic routes to cater to the growing demand for ice and snow tourism. An additional 800 flights are being added on routes connecting multiple domestic cities with ice and snow tourism destinations during the travel rush.

The airline has arranged an additional 600 flights on its Haikou and Sanya routes, in response to the difficulty of returning to home cities from the tropical island province of Hainan last year.

In addition, Air China has launched more routes to Hainan as well as Northeast China for ice and snow tourism. For the Hainan routes, 65 percent of flights will be operated using widebody aircraft.

"The presale situation for the Spring Festival travel rush remains similar with corresponding periods previously. In particular, the demand of taking flights for the second time during the middle of the festival is quite prominent," said Li Liyang, a marketing official at Air China.