Air carriers anticipating holiday rush

Country to lift restrictions on limit of weekly flights on 49 domestic routes

China's air travel sector has recovered significantly and is expected to brace for a holiday travel rush as National Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival are around the corner, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said on Tuesday.

Zhang Qing, deputy director of the administration's development planning department, told a news conference that civil carriers handled about 45.54 million passenger trips last month, nearly three-fourths of the figure reported in August last year. In February, the number was less than one-fifth of that in February last year.

"The domestic air market, in particular, has seen accelerated recovery," she said. "Over 45.35 million domestic passenger trips were made last month, recovering to more than 80 percent of the level during the same period last year."