CAAC: China's domestic air travel sees steady growth

China's civil aviation reported steady growth in domestic air traffic. The average number of daily air passenger trips made in April has reached 494,400 as of April 21, an increase of 7.9 percent from March, Jin Junhao, an official with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) told a news conference on Wednesday.

The number of daily flights rose by one percent from March to 6,586 per day, accounting for approximately 41.6 percent of the same period last year.

The past week (April 15-21) saw the daily transported air passenger numbers rise by 15.8 percent from March, though it is around 30.5 percent of the number last year. Also, the average number of domestic flights reached 6,993 per day, showing a growth of seven percent compared with March, according to CAAC.

Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, China saw a sharp decline in its number of air passenger trips and flights from January 23. It hit the lowest point on February 13 with the daily air traffic plunging by 93.2 percent than before the novel coronavirus break out in the country.

As China managed to flatten the curve, its civil aviation sector started to resume operations in late February. In March, China's civil aviation saw 458,300 air trips per day on average, a growth of 69.8 percent from February.

As of April 20, China has arranged a total of 11 temporary flights in that month and brought home 2,009 Chinese citizens from countries like the UK, the US, Italy, and Spain with 1,734 overseas students included.