Passengers walk to board the train G99 at Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station in east China's Shanghai, April 1, 2023. As train G99 left Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station for Hong Kong West Kowloon Station, the services of Shanghai-Hong Kong high-speed railway resumed on Saturday. (Xinhua/Wang Xiang)

China's railway and aviation authorities vowed to increase passenger transport capacity in order to ensure the normal operation of the nation's transport network during the May Day holidays starting from April 29 to May 3. 

The national railway operator China State Railway Group Co (China Railway) said on Saturday that they planned to add over 1,500 trains during April 27 to May 4 and the national daily operation number will reach about 10,500 during the holidays. 

As of Saturday 14 pm, China Railway's online ticket booking platform has pre-sold 46.57 million train tickets for the May Day holidays. 

According to data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), flight ticket booking volume during the May Day holidays has already crossed 6 million. CAAC predicted that China's aviation sector will transport about 9 million passengers nationwide during the holidays, China Media Group reported on Friday. 

For the domestic market, multiple airline companies will operate a combined 65,000 flights equal to about 12 million seats, which surpassed the transport capacity supply in the same period in 2019. In addition, Chinese and foreign airline companies are estimated to operate 3,500 international flights, according to the report.  

Chinese online travel agency Trip.com said the booking volume for domestic trip during 2023 May Day holidays has reached the level in 2019 with an increase of 12 times over the level in 2022 as of April 16. 

Comprehensive booking volume for domestic hotel, transport ticket and scenic spot ticket surged by 200 percent compared with the same period in 2019 as of April 10, data from online food delivery platform Meituan and Dazhongdianping, a Chinese version of Yelp, showed. 

Booking volume for overseas travel surged by 18 times compared with the same period in 2019 during the holidays, Trip.com data showed, as airlines resume international flights. The cross-border flight volume in January 2023 recovered 10 percent of the volume in January 2019, and the rate has been lifted to 21 percent in the first half of March 2023.

Global Times