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China’s airline industry prepares for Spring Festival travel rush
January 22nd 2026
China’s airline industry is expecting a record Spring Festival travel rush in 2026, boosted by strong demand for family reunions, tourism, and student travel. Read More » This year, the Spring Festival holiday travel period, known as chunyun, will run for 40 days from February 2 to March 13. During that time, passenger air traffic is expected to reach 95 million trips, averaging 2.38 million per day, a 5.3% increase year-on-year, according to officials from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) announced this week. "The combination of traditional travel for family reunions, student travel, and strong holiday tourism demand is expected to further release aviation travel potential during the Spring Festival period," Wang Weijun, deputy director of the CAAC’s department of transport, said. This year’s Spring Festival, or Lunar New Year, falls on Feb 17, with a nine-day public holiday from Feb 15 to 23. Peak travel periods before and after the holiday are expected to overlap with the extended break, concentrating passenger flows, particularly for students and migrant workers returning after the festival. Based on airlines’ preliminary flight schedules, China’s civil aviation sector is expected to operate about 780,000 flights during the travel period, or roughly 19,400 flights per day, up about 5% from last year. Passenger traffic is expected to peak twice, before and after the Spring Festival holiday. Because the festival comes later this year, return travel after the holiday is expected to be more crowded, with single-day passenger volume potentially reaching 2.6 million, the CAAC said.
