Daxing Airport to handle over 5 million passenger trips during Spring Festival travel rush

Beijing Daxing International Airport is expected to witness an influx of international passengers during Spring Festival travel rush, which kicked off on Friday.

"The number of international passengers has been growing recently, even before the travel rush," said Wang Qiang, deputy head of the airport's aviation business department.

He also noted that the airport saw the daily peak of international passenger trips on Jan 21 with 12,500 trips this year, highlighting the airport's expected continuous surge in international trips during the travel rush.

The airport is expected to handle more than 10,000 international trips every day during the travel rush.

Overall, the airport is expected see 5.5 million passenger trips during the time, a substantial increase from the 3.77 million passenger trips handled during last year's Spring Festival travel rush.

Wang also said that the volume of international trips is expected to double this year, reaching 4 million. Last year, the airport handled 2 million international trips.

Airline companies will open new international routes and add more services to cater to passengers' needs.

China Southern Airlines has recently launched new routes from Daxing Airport to Almaty and Bishkek, while China Eastern Airlines plans to introduce a new route from Daxing Airport to Kuala Lumpur.

Additionally, Xiamen Airlines will operate wide-body aircraft on the Daxing to Doha route to accommodate the increasing travel demand.

The surge in international travel is evident, with a college student surnamed Yang expressing her experience as she departed from the capital to Macao on Friday.

She spent 2,500 yuan ($350) on the round-trip between Beijing and Macao and found the ticket price to be reasonable.

"The Daxing airport is big, and it didn't really feel crowded. The instructions were clear and I can easily figure out what to do," she said, adding that it is her first time to the airport. The airport opened in September, 2019.

The 40-day travel rush began on Friday and will end on March 5. The civil aviation industry, profoundly impacted by the epidemic, is preparing to accommodate a record 80 million passenger trips during this period, with a notable increase in the number of international passengers expected.