On February 23, the Civil Aviation Administration of China released relevant transportation data for the 2025 Spring Festival travel rush period (January 14 to February 22). The total number of passengers transported by civil aviation in China was 90.2 million, with an average of 2.255 million passengers per day, an increase of 7.4% compared to the same period in 2024 Spring Festival travel rush. The cumulative number of guaranteed flights was 739000, with an average of 18500 flights per day, an increase of 8.3% compared to the same period in 2024 Spring Festival travel rush. Both passenger transport volume and flight numbers reached historical highs. The normal flight rate nationwide is 94%, an increase of 7 percentage points compared to the same period of the 2024 Spring Festival travel rush. Overall, this year's civil aviation Spring Festival travel rush mainly presents four characteristics: first, the demand for civil aviation transportation is steadily increasing; Secondly, the peak occurs during the Spring Festival holiday; Thirdly, the transportation organization is more optimized; The fourth is the continuous improvement of service quality. Overall, high-quality civil aviation services are driving further growth in domestic and international consumer demand Zhao Nan, General Manager of the Industry Development Department of AVIC Xin Mobile Technology Co., Ltd., told reporters. Under the influence of multiple favorable factors, the demand for passenger transportation during the Spring Festival travel rush has significantly increased compared to previous years. According to data released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, popular domestic routes are concentrated in the three circles of "4+2+N". The routes between the four regions of "Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu" are still the main transportation arteries during the Spring Festival travel rush. There is a strong demand for "cold escape" and "ice and snow travel" destinations such as Northeast China and Hainan. The passenger throughput of cultural and tourism cities with strong traditional Chinese Spring Festival characteristics, such as Fuzhou and Wuxi, has significantly increased. At the same time, thanks to the further expansion of China's visa free "circle of friends", the demand for cross-border travel during the Spring Festival travel rush has also increased significantly, with 1921 daily international passenger flights (round-trip), an increase of 27.1% compared to the same period in 2024. From the perspective of flight execution, data from the "Hanglv Zongheng APP" under China Aviation Information Mobile Technology Co., Ltd. shows that during the 2025 Spring Festival travel rush, passengers have a strong willingness to travel on domestic routes, with a combination of student flow, work flow, and family visit flow, resulting in a stable increase in overall passenger flow. The top ten popular destinations in China are Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Kunming, Chongqing, Xi'an, Hangzhou, and Haikou. In terms of inbound and outbound routes, the actual number of flights executed exceeded 92000, an increase of over 24% compared to last year's Spring Festival travel rush. The number of inbound civil aviation passengers exceeded 4.61 million, an increase of about 25% compared to last year's Spring Festival travel rush. Zhao Nan stated that compared to 2024, under the influence of favorable policies such as visa facilitation, it is expected that the demand for international entry will continue to be strong in 2025. Since the beginning of this year, multiple airlines have added international routes. It is expected that the passenger capacity investment of each airline in international routes will maintain stable growth this year, and the international route business of airlines is expected to continue to improve. As of the time of publication, some airlines or airports have also released relevant data during the Spring Festival travel rush. For example, during the Spring Festival travel rush, Hainan Sanya Phoenix International Airport (hereinafter referred to as "Sanya Airport") guaranteed 17958 flight takeoffs and landings, transported 3.42 million passengers, and had a cargo and mail throughput of 43675.6 tons, an increase of 19%, 12%, and 5.2% year-on-year, achieving a "good start" for Sanya Airport in 2025. During the Spring Festival travel rush, Jiuyuan Airlines Co., Ltd. has operated a total of 3698 flights, an increase of 8% compared to the same period last year; The total passenger transport volume exceeded 790000, an increase of 5.2% compared to the same period last year; The average passenger load factor reached 89%. Zhang Yi, CEO of Guangzhou AiMedia Shuju Information Consulting Co., Ltd., stated in an interview with reporters that the strong performance of the 2025 civil aviation Spring Festival travel rush data has laid a solid foundation for the aviation market throughout the year. Under the multiple favorable factors of strong demand, optimized supply, and cost improvement, it is expected that the airline's performance for the whole year of 2025 will be better than that of 2024, and the industry's prosperity is expected to further improve. (New Society)