Chongqing - The 40-day Spring Festival travel rush (Chunyun) concluded on February 22, 2025, breaking records with a total of 9.02 billion cross-regional trips. Passenger numbers surged, with 510 million traveling by train, 90.2 million by air, and 7.17 billion by private vehicle. In Chongqing, nearly 29.69 million trips were made.

Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport. (Photo/Chongqing Airport Group)

Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport sets record

Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport set new records during the Spring Festival, handling a passenger throughput of 6.1183 million and safely operating 39,900 flights;. Both figures surpassed previous records for the airport during the Spring Festival travel rush, with a 5.5% increase in flights and a 6.3% rise in passenger volume from last year. From February 1 to 10, the airport operated over 1,000 flights daily for 10 consecutive days. On February 3 and 4, the airport set new single-day passenger traffic records, reaching 166,000 and 168,000 trips,, respectively.

To meet growing demand, the airport added or expanded services on over 30 domestic routes, introduced new international flights to Tokyo and Kuchin, and increased services to Phuket and Ho Chi Minh City. During the travel rush, it operates 34 international routes to other countries and regions,, with nearly 190 weekly flights.

The airport further plans to resume flights to Moscow and increase services to Osaka and Bangkok, enhancing its role as a key international aviation hub.

Transportation innovations boost capacity across China

This year’s Spring Festival travel rush was the first since the Chinese New Year was included in UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and featured the longest holiday period in history. Notable transportation innovations included 16 domestically produced C919 aircraft, the debut of the upgraded CR400BF-S Fuxing high-speed trains, and the domestically built cruise ship Adora Magic City, which carried nearly 5,000 passengers on a festive voyage. Together, these diverse options created a powerful transportation network, expanding capacity and reducing travel time.

Starting January 14, the national railway operated over 14,000 trains daily, while civil aviation saw an average of 18,500 flights per day, an 8.3% increase from last year. The number of electric vehicles on highways exceeded 6.5 million daily, up 60% from the previous year.

A total of 42 charging bays are available at a service area on the Shenyang-Haikou Expressway in Jiangmen, Guangdong province, on January 14, 2025. (Photo/ Xinhua)

Highway service areas, with 35,000 charging stations and 40,000 charging parking spots, supported the surge in electric vehicle use. New rail routes and optimized air schedules further improved travel convenience and capacity.

With upgraded infrastructure, equipment, and flight networks, China’s transportation landscape has evolved dramatically over the 70 years of Spring Festival travel rushes.