A C919 jetliner of the China Eastern Airlines arrives at the Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong, south China, June 1, 2024. A C919 jetliner of the China Eastern Airlines fleet on Saturday kicked off its first overseas commercial chartered flight, providing a round-trip service between Shanghai and Hong Kong.  Photo: Xinhua

China's tourism market is expected to welcome a peak this year as the summer vacation is around the corner. Driven by the upward demand, outbound travel is another booming growth force for airlines.

Data from information provider VariFlight shared with the Global Times on Tuesday showed that 41 domestic passenger airlines are expected to operate 1.03 million flights during the 2024 summer season starting on July 1, with 940,000 domestic flights and 90,000 international and regional flights.

Flights by 41 airlines are expected to increase year-on-year, and 33 carriers are expected to show a rise from 2019.

International and regional flights by 24 carriers are expected to increase compared with 2023, and such flights by 11 airlines are expected to increase from 2019, the VariFlight data showed.

China Eastern Airlines said that its new domestic destinations are concentrated in popular tourist cities in Xinjiang and Southwest and Southern China.

China Southern Airlines said that it will bring wide-body services to regions such as Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, and it will launch a new regular direct flight from Changchun to Altay in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region as of June 24.

China Southern offered significant fare discounts and special products on its routes from Shenyang to the Greater Bay Area after the college entrance examination.

Juneyao Airlines will launch a new direct flight from Shanghai Pudong to Altay starting from July 1. It will be the longest domestic passenger route operated by the carrier. More flights such as those from Shanghai to Dunhuang in Gansu Province will also start.

Airlines will provide sufficient capacity in the peak season to meet the growing travel needs of passengers. The peak season is worth looking forward to, chief analyst Luo Chengtao from the Civil Aviation Data Analysis told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Bookings for outbound travel are rising. Chinese online travel platform Qunar data showed that as of Monday, the number of outbound travel bookings for the summer vacation (July 1-August 31) were up 1.6 times year-on-year. North America and Europe remain popular destinations for summer long-distance travel.

On Qunar, the top international destinations for the summer are Malaysia, Japan and Thailand. Thanks to the visa-free policy and new routes, the number of air ticket bookings to Malaysia has more than doubled year-on-year.

Starting from July, Spring Airlines will launch direct flights from Xi'an to Osaka, Japan, and Guangzhou to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The travel peak of the summer vacation follows a robust Dragon Boat Festival period.

During the three-day holidays, 110 million trips were made in China, up 6.3 percent year-on-year. Total travel spending grew by 8.1 percent year-on-year to 40.35 billion yuan ($5.57 billion), according to data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on Monday. This indicates a continued recovery in tourism and consumption.

Travel experts said that the rise in summer bookings shows consumers' enthusiasm and strong demand for travel, and the country's tourism industry is likely to show a peak compared with 2019.