Five days, 10.54 million passengers, 89,000 flights — and nearly all of them departed exactly on schedule. Chinese civil aviation has once again proven it is ready for the busiest travel season of the year.

According to data released on Wednesday by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), over the five-day May Day holiday period ending May 5, the country's aviation network served 10.54 million passengers. The daily average stood at 2.11 million people. A total of 89,000 flights were operated. The share of flights that departed without delays reached 97.2% — 7.2 percentage points higher than the same period last year. This was reported by CCTV+.

The May Day holiday is traditionally a peak season for travel and family reunions. This year was no exception. The country's main air arteries — routes connecting the four largest urban clusters (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the Chengdu-Chongqing economic zone) — maintained high market concentration, accounting for 67.6% of all bookings.

But the real sensation came from regional airports. Tickets to smaller cities were in explosive demand. For example, Zhongwei Shapotou Airport in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China has become a new attraction. It now operates stable routes to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, and Xi'an, while the frequency of flights to popular destinations such as Beijing, Kunming, Zhengzhou, and Chengdu has increased to one flight per day.

The continuously optimized route network has made travel to Zhongwei convenient, and tourists are gratefully embracing the local flavor. "I took a direct flight from Kunming. Very convenient. I was completely satisfied with the airport service — from landing to exiting," passenger Xiong Shunwenlong shared.

The numbers confirm it: interest in smaller airports has skyrocketed. Ticket sales to Yueyang in Hunan Province jumped by 224%, while those to Zhongwei doubled. The number of travelers heading to third-tier and lower-tier cities nearly doubled, said Shi Ke, a researcher at the Big Data Research Institute of Qunar.

Chinese aviation not only handled the load — it set new standards of punctuality and service during the busiest days of the year.