The Southwest Branch of Air China announced Wednesday that it will launch an additional 224 flights during the upcoming May Day holidays, the seven-day golden week, to cope with peak travel to the country's tourist resort sites.

The additional 224 flights will be operational from April 29 to May 8, and will be mainly bound for tourist resorts in Jiuzhaigou, Lhasa, Kunming, Guangzhou, Beijing, Zhangjiajie, Sanya and Nanning.

The Chengdu-Jiuzhaigou route alone will increase by three fights daily using a 198-seat Boeing 757 plane, with added round-trip flights reaching 30 during the holidays.

Other hot routes such as Chengdu-Lhasa, Chengdu-Kunming, Chengdu-Guangzhou will increase with additional flights ranging from 12 to 24 during the festive days.

(Xinhua News Agency April 22, 2005)