Shandong airports are expected to serve 4.4 million travelers during the 2025 Spring Festival travel rush. [Photo/Shandian News]

The annual Spring Festival travel rush began on Jan 14, 2025, with Shandong Airport Management Group expecting to handle nearly 4.4 million passengers.

This is a year-on-year increase of about five percent and it is anticipated that over 100,000 passengers will be processed on the first day.

For domestic flights, the group plans to introduce over 30 additional routes, with airports in Shandong's Jinan, Linyi, Rizhao, and Dongying intending to add southbound routes to cities in other provinces or regions such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Kunming, Haikou, Nanchang, Guilin, Shiyan, Wuyishan, among others.

Airports in Yantai and Weihai plan to increase flights to popular northern destinations like Beijing, Mudanjiang, and Harbin.

Meanwhile, there is a continuous rise in demand for cross-border travel. Airports in Shandong's Jinan, Yantai, Weihai, and Linyi have opened international passenger flights to Seoul in South Korea, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Fukuoka in Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, as well as Australia.

There are plans to operate nearly 130 international passenger flights per week, representing a growth of over 90 percent compared to last year's Spring Festival travel rush.