Passengers check in at the Nanjing Lukou International Airport in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province on February 8, 2024. As the Chinese Lunar New Year approaches, civil aviation is experiencing a peak in passenger flow. Photo: VCG

Chinese airlines are ramping up efforts to expand overseas flight routes during the Spring Festival, with Southeast Asia being one of the most popular market and some cities enjoying a load factor of above 90 percent. 

China Eastern Airlines said on Monday that it operated a total of 2,843 overseas flights during the Spring Festival holidays, with flights to Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia boosted by favorable factors like the accelerated recovery of the overseas tourism market and the new visa-free entry arrangements. 

Flights from Shanghai Pudong airport to markets such as Singapore, Los Angeles and Phuket, remained at above 90 percent during the holidays, the carrier said.

China Southern Airlines said that the Group including Xiamen Airlines operated a total of 25,400 flights, a year-on-year increase of 20.95 percent in 2019, and carried 4.1721 million passengers, a year-on-year increase of 23.25 percent in 2019.

In terms of overseas markets, passenger numbers originating from cities such as Frankfurt, Moscow, London, Tokyo, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur increased significantly year-on-year as compared with 2019, China Southern said.

Data from industry information provider Fly Master showed that the number of outbound passenger flights stood at 6,051 during the holidays, and the daily average returned to the 70.8 percent of the level in 2019, Thailand, South Korea, and Japan ranking among the top three. 

Booking platform Qunar.com also said that the number of air ticket bookings from China to Singapore increased by 29 times compared with the same period last year, following by 20 times of Kuala Lumpur and 16 times for Bangkok.

To date, China has inked mutual visa exemption agreements covering different types of passports with 157 countries, reached agreements or arrangements on simplified visa procedures with 44 countries and enjoyed comprehensive mutual visa exemptions with 23 countries, including Thailand, Singapore, the Maldives and UAE, Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on January 31.

The increase in tourists marked the return of the Spring Festival holidays as a peak season for tourism in the world. According to Alipay, overseas spending by its users during the 2024 Chinese New Year holidays in Southeast Asia achieved significant growth of nearly 580 percent. Among those destinations, Thailand ranks first in terms of passenger consumption, and Malaysia witnessed the largest increase in consumption among Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. 

Global Times