Airlines are to schedule about 1,000 additional flights during the Spring Festival travel period to meet the high demand, the Daily Sunshine reported Wednesday.

China Southern Airlines would add more than 500 flights to cities in southwest, central south and east areas in China.

During the festival travel period, the company would have as many as six flights from Shenzhen to Changsha in Hunan Province daily, five flights to Wuhan in Hubei Province, and three to four flights to Chengdu in Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality, the report said.

Flights to Kunming in Yunnan Province, Nanchang in Jiangxi, Hefei in Anhui, and Guiyang in Guizhou will also increase to three a day. The company said the increased flights would guarantee passengers arrive home on time for the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Meanwhile, Shenzhen Airlines also announced an additional 522 flights would be added to its schedule.

The additional flight destinations include Changde in Hunan Province, Xiangfan in Hubei, Harbin in Heilongjiang, Xi’an in Shaanxi and Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

There would be no discounts on flights during the travel period, airlines said. However, flights to Beijing and Shanghai will continue to offer discounts because the number of daily flights to these cities will be increased to more than 20.

(Xinhua News Agency January 13, 2005)