China's C919 serve passengers for 2024 Spring Festival travel rush

Four of China's self-developed C919 aircraft from China Eastern Airlines (CEA) are serving the Spring Festival travel rush, sending people home for family reunions for the Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls on February 10 this year.

During the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, which started January 26 and will last until March 5, China is expected to record 9 billion passenger trips, according to the Ministry of Transport. 

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) predicted that the country is expected to handle a record-high 80 million air passenger trips, a year-on-year increase of 44.9 percent. The number is expected to reach a new historical high, said Liang Nan, director of the Department of Transport, CAAC. 

The CEA put the four C919 planes into regular round-trip routes that connect Shanghai with Beijing, as well as Shanghai and Chengdu, in southwest China's Sichuan Province. It plans to fly 3,280 flights per day during the travel peak, with a growth of 42 percent year on year.

The company welcomed its fourth C919 plane on January 2, which started flights from Beijing to Shanghai. On May 28, 2023, the CEA operated the maiden flight of the C919 and the plane has been flying the route from Shanghai and Chengdu.

The C919 fleet has carried out 655 commercial flights, transporting a total of nearly 82,000 passengers since its maiden flight, said the company in January.