Beijing Capital International Airport is expected to handle 918,300 passenger trips during the upcoming five-day May Day holiday, up 21 percent year on year, the airport said on Tuesday.
Data show that the airport is expected to handle 5,837 flights during the holiday, or a daily average of 1,167 flights and 183,700 passenger trips.
"The capital airport will see its pre-holiday peak of passenger flow today, and is expected to handle 208,000 passenger trips and 1,203 flights. Peak of returns is expected to arrive on Sunday with 207,000 passenger trips and 1,203 flights expected," said Cui Yali, an assistant manager of the airport's operations control center, in an interview with China Central Television on Tuesday.
China's civil aviation market is constantly recovering. In the first quarter of this year, the airport managed a passenger throughput of 16.38 million, up 61 percent year on year and resumed 94 percent of the pre-pandemic level in the same period of 2019.
So far, its waypoints in Asia have rebounded to 71, better meeting the holiday traveling demands.
"During the May Day holiday, the destinations of travelers departing from the capital airport are mainly domestic cities such as Shanghai, Chengdu and Hong Kong, and some cities in Asia like Tokyo, Seoul and Osaka. These are all popular destinations," said Shi Mengmeng, head of aviation development of the airport's Aviation Business Department.
China's May Day holiday will last from Wednesday to Sunday this year.
Beijing airport to handle 918,300 holiday passenger trips
A Chinese mainland spokesperson said Lai Ching-te has sent "a dangerous signal" of seeking "Taiwan independence" and making provocations to undermine cross-Strait peace and stability in his speech upon assuming the role of Taiwan region's new leader on Monday.
Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, described Lai's speech as one that stubbornly followed the "Taiwan independence" stance, wantonly advocated separatism, incited cross-Strait confrontation and sought independence by relying on foreign support and by force.
Chen said the mainstream public aspiration on the island is for peace and development, instead of war and recession, while Lai has ignored the public opinion, exposing his nature of being "a worker for Taiwan independence."
The current complex and grave situation across the Strait is rooted in the fact that the Democratic Progressive Party has stubbornly stuck to the separatist stance of "Taiwan independence," rejected the 1992 Consensus that embodies the one-China principle, and kept colluding with external forces to make provocations of seeking "Taiwan independence," Chen said.
Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, said Chen, stressing that "Taiwan independence" and peace across the Strait are incompatible as fire and water.
"We have firm determination to resolve the Taiwan question and realize national reunification; we have strong capabilities to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity; and we will take resolute actions to fight separatist activities seeking 'Taiwan independence' and external interference," he said.
"We will never tolerate any 'Taiwan independence' separatist acts in any form," said Chen.
China must and will be reunified, Chen stressed. No matter how the situation on the island changes and who assumes the regional leader, it will not change the fact that both sides of the Strait belong to one China, or impede the historical trend of national reunification, he said.
"We will fully implement the Party's overall policy for resolving the Taiwan question in the new era, unswervingly uphold the one-China principle and the 1992 Consensus, work together with Taiwan compatriots to promote the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and cross-Strait integrated development, and resolutely advance the reunification of the motherland," said Chen.
Mainland says Lai sends "dangerous signal" in speech as Taiwan's new leader
