Return travel to peak Tuesday as Mid-Autumn Festival ends

China's transport sector is expected to prepare for the return peak on Tuesday, the last day of the three-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, transport regulators said.

Some 8.8 million trips are expected to be made by the national railway network on Tuesday, peak of the returning trips, according to China State Railway Group, the national railway operator. The railway department plans to add 839 train services to cater for the increasing demands on the day.

Freeways are expected to see more traffic on Tuesday, especially from the afternoon. In Beijing, major freeways connecting the capital's suburbs will see an increasing number of returning vehicles — peak hours from 4 to 7 pm, the city's transport commission said.

The civil aviation industry also is expected to see the return peak on Tuesday. Some 1,720 flights are scheduled in the capital's two airports on Tuesday.

The three-day Mid-Autumn Festival, from Sunday to Tuesday, is the first national holiday since summer, when a few COVID-19 cases emerged and were scattered in some provinces since July.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, many people are planning for short trips to release the desire for travel, which was suppressed in summer.

The national railway network is expected to handle 40 million passenger trips from Saturday to Tuesday, with the peak falling on Sunday. The railway regulator offered 10,067 train services to handle nearly 10.5 million passenger trips on Sunday.

According to China State Railway Group, railway traffic is expected to resume during Mid-Autumn Festival. To offer high-quality service, railway departments from various places have offered targeted services to benefit passengers.

In some regions in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province and North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, heating services are offered on some trains to cater to temperature declines.

To contain the spread of the COVID-19, passengers can obtain new face masks for free at some railway stations, such as Shenyang and Dalian in Northeast China's Liaoning province.

Bullet train services are arranged every five minutes between Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi province and Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan province, to expand passengers' travel choices.

The national civil aviation regulator planned more domestic flights to respond to increased demand during Mid-Autumn Festival. In addition to about 100,000 flights every week, another 4,250 are planned during the holiday, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Because of the scattered COVID-19 outbreaks across China in the past two months, travel has been limited, causing the civil aviation sector to miss out on its peak summer season, said Shang Kejia, deputy director of the administration's Transport Department.

She added summer traffic was down 42 percent compared with 2019 and down 16.6 percent compared with last year.

More trips are expected to be made during Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays than over the summer, she said, based on data from search results on online travel agencies.

"Part of the desire to travel suppressed in summer will be released during the two holidays," Shang said.

In Beijing, 4,550 flights are planned to enter and leave Capital International Airport of Beijing and Beijing Daxing International Airport during Mid-Autumn Festival. Due to the opening of the Universal Studios theme park, the capital has become a major source to attract inbound passengers during the holiday, especially from Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province, as well as Chengdu and Chongqing, according to the air traffic control department in Northern China.

The Universal Studios theme park opened to the general public in Beijing on Monday.