This photo taken on May 5, 2023 shows a view of the Urumqi Diwopu International Airport, which is undergoing reconstruction and expansion, in Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's civil aviation industry transported 18.24 million passengers during the eight-day Spring Festival holiday that ended on Tuesday, an increase of 2.9 percent compared to the same period in 2024, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said on Wednesday.

Some 145,000 flights were operated during the holiday, with a flight punctuality rate of 96 percent, up 3.4 percentage points compared with the flight punctuality rate achieved in the same period last year.

During the 2025 holiday, the average number of international passenger flights per day reached 1,888 -- an increase of 24.6 percent compared to the same period in 2024. This figure is 86.6 percent of the daily average level recorded in 2019.

The most popular international routes during the 2025 Spring Festival holiday were those connecting China with Japan, Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.