Beijing expects 20% surge in flights during Spring Festival travel rush

BEIJING -- The two main airports in Chinese capital city Beijing are expected to record 76,000 flight takeoffs and landings during the Spring Festival travel rush that started Friday.

The number will represent an increase of 20 percent compared to the corresponding period last year, and the surge in flights is a result of more people traveling during the holiday season for visiting family and tourism destinations, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China's north region bureau.

On Friday, the first day of this year's Spring Festival travel rush, also known as "chunyun", the Beijing Capital International Airport scheduled 1,195 inbound and outbound flights while the Beijing Daxing International Airport scheduled 934 flights. Hot routes concentrate on tourism destinations such as Haikou and Harbin, it said.

Meanwhile, with the reciprocal visa policy between China and multiple countries, the Capital Airport is expected to record more than 1.4 million passenger trips via international and regional flights during the travel season, averaging at 35,000 trips per day, according to the authority.

China officially ushered in its largest annual population migration on Friday, 15 days ahead of the Spring Festival, or the Lunar New Year, with record-breaking journey numbers expected.

The 40-day travel surge, also known as "chunyun," will see hundreds of millions of people return home and reunite with their friends and families.