Civil aviation authorities expecting record passenger trips during 2026 Spring Festival travel rush

China's civil aviation sector is expected to handle 95 million passenger trips during the upcoming annual Spring Festival travel rush, with an average of 2.38 million passenger trips per day, a year-on-year increase of 5.3 percent, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said Monday.

This year's travel rush period, also known as chunyun, will run from Feb 2 to March 13, and this year's official Spring Festival holiday is scheduled for Feb 15 to 23.

Each year during the Spring Festival travel rush, millions of people who work, study, or live away from their hometowns will return home to reunite with their families for the Spring Festival, China's most important traditional holiday, forming the world's largest annual human migration.

During the upcoming travel rush, the national civil aviation system is expected to handle 780,000 flights, averaging 19,400 flights per day, a year-on-year increase of 5 percent.

Two peak travel periods are expected before and after the Spring Festival holiday. With the Spring Festival to fall later than usual this year, the return travel flow of students and other travelers will be more concentrated, with the daily peak passenger flow potentially reaching 2.6 million passenger trips, according to the CAAC. Judged by flight search and booking data, popular travel routes, such as those for ice and snow tourism in the colder north of the country and winter escape tourism in the warmer south are seeing a continued increase in attention, and outbound and inbound travel routes are also expected to see new travel peaks, thanks to the adoption of favorable measures such as the integration of aviation, culture and tourism, inbound and outbound travel promotion, and extension of holiday seasons. In response to potential complex situation arising from massive passenger flow, high-density operations, and localized rain, snow, and freezing weather during the Spring Festival travel rush, the CAAC has urged industrial operators to strictly implement their overall plans for winter civil aviation operation support and to make perfect their various emergency response plans.

Civil aviation authorities expecting record passenger trips during 2026 Spring Festival travel rush

The legitimate rights of the Palestinian people must be respected and protected, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a press briefing in Beijing on Friday.

Mao made the remarks in response to a media query about the reports that the Israeli parliament recently adopted a new law introducing death penalty for Palestinians, and countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have expressed strong condemnation, saying such practice is "entrenching a system of apartheid."

"All legislation must conform to legal principles such as the principle of legality, fairness and justice, and must not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, nationality or political view. The legitimate rights of the Palestinian people must be respected and protected. Relevant party’s actions that escalate tensions and exacerbate confrontation must stop," said Mao.

Palestinian people's legitimate rights must be respected, protected: Chinese FM spokeswoman