Passengers queue to check in at Beijing Capital International Airport on September 28, 2025. Photo: Tu Lei/ GT

 
China witnessed a growth of air travel during the past eight-day holidays, latest data showed on Thursday, highlighting a significant recovery of the demand for travel services.  

During this year's National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays (October 1-8, 2025), China's civil aviation carried a total of 19.138 million passengers, with daily average of 2.392 million passengers, a 3.2 percent increase over the daily average of 2.317 million passengers during the same eight-day National Day holidays in 2024, according to CCTV News, citing data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

The average daily load factor was 87.9 percent, an increase of 3.5 percentage points over the same period in 2024. The peak day was the first day of the holidays (October 1), when China's civil aviation carried 2.4749 million passengers, exceeding the historical peak for the National Day holidays.

In addition, China Eastern Airlines said on Thursday that it operated a total of nearly 25,000 domestic and international flights, transporting more than 3.65 million passengers. 

The average daily number of flights exceeded 3,100, a year-on-year increase of 3.6 percent. The average daily number of passengers carried was more than 456,000, a year-on-year increase of 6.2 percent, setting a record high for the same period in history.

In terms of international and regional routes, China Eastern Airlines operated a total of 3,484 flights over the eight-day holidays, transporting a cumulative 552,000 passengers. Among them, routes to Europe, America, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, and North Africa were particularly popular.

China recorded a total of 16.34 million border crossings during the eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays that came to a close on Wednesday, with daily average of 2.04 million crossings, up 11.5 percent year-on-year, according to the National Immigration Administration.

Data from Qunar.com showed that during the holidays, in terms of domestic tourism, hotel bookings in popular cities increased by more than 20 percent year-on-year. 

In terms of outbound tourism, outbound air ticket bookings to popular destinations increased by more than 30 percent year-on-year, especially among young people and college students, with outbound air ticket bookings increasing by more than 50 percent.

In terms of inbound tourism, the number of domestic flight tickets booked using non-Chinese passports increased by more than 30 percent year-on-year, the platform said. 

In terms of source countries, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore are the most popular destinations for tourists. Mongolia saw the fastest growth, with air ticket bookings increasing more than 900 percent year-on-year; the Netherlands saw an increase of more than 700 percent; and Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Georgia all saw increases of more than 300 percent.

Global Times