As the Spring Festival approaches, an airport in Taiyuan, capital of north China's Shanxi Province, has rolled out a series of measures to meet surging passenger demand during the travel rush period.
These new measures include launching new routes, resuming suspended flights, increasing frequency on key routes, expanding services to popular destinations, and deploying larger aircraft models.
The 40-day travel season this year began on Feb 2 and will last until March 13. Each year during the period, millions of people working, studying or living away from their hometowns return for the Spring Festival, China's most important traditional holiday, forming the world's largest annual human migration.
During the busy travel season, Taiyuan Wusu International Airport will add 18 new routes and resume 12 others, with plans to operate a total of 12,000 flights and handle 1.75 million passengers. It will significantly increase flights between Taiyuan and major hub cities such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and other key cities for returning travelers.
With passenger numbers rising during the travel rush, the airport will also identify first-time flyers and passengers in need of urgent assistance, providing them with special wristbands to offer priority services throughout check-in, baggage drop, security screening, and boarding.
"International and regional routes have become a new highlight of this year's Spring Festival travel season. The airport launched direct flights from Taiyuan to Bangkok, Phuket, Nha Trang, and Macao, significantly improving travel efficiency. Together with existing routes to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur, an air corridor covering Hong Kong, Macao and Southeast Asia has been established," said Hao Juwei, a staff member at the airport.
Taiyuan airport enhances transport capacity for Spring Festival travel rush
African officials on Wednesday pledged to scale up investment to accelerate development across the member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at a meeting in Accra, Ghana's capital.
They made the commitment during the 24th Annual General Meeting of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), where leaders highlighted the need to expand the bank's capital base to finance transformative projects.
Ghanaian Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson stressed that timely capital payments would strengthen EBID's leverage and sustain its growth, enabling the institution to stimulate inclusive economic expansion across the region.
"Timely capital payments are critical. It strengthens EBID leverage and sustains its growth and impact across our region. Expanding our capital base is essential to strengthen our ability to finance transformative development projects and stimulate inclusive economic growth among our member states," said Forson.
EBID recorded strong achievements in 2025, with total disbursements of about 722 million U.S. dollars, up 47.7 percent from 2024. Building on that momentum, President George Agyekum Donkor said the bank remains committed to helping member states tackle poverty and close infrastructure gaps across the region.
"We aim to direct at least 63 percent of new commitments towards the private enterprises to catalyze job creation and innovation. Simultaneously, the bank would embed environmental, social and governance principles across its operations, dedicating over 41 percent of resources to climate mitigation and social inclusion projects," said Donkor.
With disbursements surging nearly 48 percent last year, EBID officials said the bank is positioned to channel more resources into private-sector growth and climate-focused projects, reinforcing its role as a driver of inclusive development across West Africa.
African officials vow stronger investment push at ECOWAS bank meeting in Accra
