A surge of passengers traveling abroad is expected during the 2025 Spring Festival holidays, with an average of 1.85 million daily cross-border passenger movements, up 9.5% from the holiday period last year, according to the National Immigration Administration (NIA). The daily average of cross-border passengers is anticipated to reach 42,000 at Beijing Capital International Airport (North China), 95,000 at Shanghai Pudong International Airport (East China), 48,000 at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (South China), and 19,000 at Chengdu Tianfu International Airport (Southwest China), said the NIA. The peak of outbound passengers is anticipated to be concentrated from January 28 to 30 (from Chinese New Year's Eve to the second day of the first lunar month), while the peak of inbound passengers is expected to be mainly concentrated from February 3 to 4 (from the sixth to the seventh day of the first lunar month). The 8-day Spring Festival holiday spans from January 28 to February 4. Airlines have ramped up flight frequencies during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush period which started on January 14.
Airports also made efforts to increase their capacity. Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport opened a new runway to facilitate takeoffs and landings. It becomes the first four-runway airport in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, CCTV News reported.
According to data from Umetrip, an official mobile platform for real-time flight information, the number of international flight ticket bookings for the Spring Festival holidays exceeded 1.72 million by January 22, up 21% from last year's holiday period. Domestic flight ticket bookings reached 9.58 million. “In terms of outbound travel, family trips are dominating the market. Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sri Lanka, the Nordic countries, Australia, New Zealand, and Spain are the most popular outbound travel destinations,” Jia Jianqiang, Founder and CEO of Beijing-based online agency 6renyou, told the Global Times.
