(Yicai) Feb. 3 -- Chinese carriers handled more than 2 million passenger trips during the first day of the 40-day travel rush for the Chinese New Year holiday.

Some 19,080 flights transported 2.19 million passenger trips yesterday, with cold northern regions and the warm southern areas ranking as top domestic destinations, while Southeast Asian countries were the preferred choice for outbound travelers.

The Spring Festival, as the Chinese New Year is called in China, is a peak travel period in the country, with people returning home to visit family, students being on vacation, and many traveling for leisure. Most airlines add flights during the travel rush.

The number of domestic flight bookings on the first day of the travel rush exceeded 1.86 million, up about 5 percent from a year earlier, according to data from flight tracker app Umetrip. In addition, reservations for inbound and outbound flights climbed around 7 percent to 250,000.

Travel demand from domestic residents and inbound foreign tourists will be more robust this year due to the more consecutive holidays for this Lunar New Year break compared to previous years, several Chinese airlines and travel platforms told Yicai, noting that passenger numbers are expected to reach a record high.

On the first day of the travel rush, the passenger load factor for flights departing from Shanghai to colder Harbin and Changchun and warmer Sanya and Kunming was over 85 percent, noted Sun Lu, deputy general manager of the network revenue division of China Eastern Airlines' marketing department. The load factor to Paris, Madrid, London, Busan, Chiang Mai, the Maldives, and Auckland exceeded 90 percent, Sun added.

There has been a significant increase in passenger traffic to snowy destinations such as Changbai Mountain and Harbin, as well as to resort cities like Sanya in Hainan province and Beihai in Guangxi province, a source from Juneyao Airlines told Yicai. Some routes during the peak travel period are nearing sold-out, so the carrier plans to either add flights or use wide-body aircraft for these popular destinations to meet travel demand, the person said.

In addition, this year's travel rush is also the first since southernmost Hainan province started an island-wide independent customs operations under the Hainan Free Trade Port, leading to a significant increase in relevant travel interest.

Several airlines have significantly boosted their capacity for flights to Hainan. For example, Hainan Airlines has increased its capacity by about 7 percent from a year ago, with all flights from Haikou and Sanya to Beijing operated by wide-body planes.

In addition, China's three biggest state-owned airlines -- Air China, China Eastern, and China Southern Airlines -- have primarily increased the number of flights to Southeast Asia during the travel period. For example, China Eastern added flights from major Chinese cities to Singapore, Phuket, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Hanoi, and others.

Travel from China to Southeast Asian destinations such as Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, and Bali, Indonesia, has remained highly popular. To accommodate this demand, the airline will operate wide-body aircraft on routes such as Shanghai to Bali and Shanghai to Singapore during the travel period.

Southeast Asia is the preferred overseas destination for Chinese people celebrating the Lunar New Year due to its moderate flight distances, pleasant local festive atmosphere, and visa-free policies, according to a research report from Tongcheng Travel.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev