China Eastern adding Lunar New Year flights

To cope with rising demand for air travel over Lunar New Year, China Eastern Airlines Co Ltd is adding 4,550 flights to its schedule from Jan 26 to March 6.

The airline will operate an additional 3,000 domestic flights, 1,300 international flights and 250 flights to or from Hong Kong or Macao, sources said on Friday.

The additional domestic flights will mainly operate between East China and cities in the southwest or northwest, and the extra international flights will be destined for South Asian countries, according to Gan Quan, senior executive with the domestic routes network and revenue management department of China Eastern's marketing and sales committee.

Gan said the Shanghai-based carrier will launch a Lunar New Year ticket discount promotion next week, involving more than 4,700 flights.

"We suggest passengers keep a close eye on our official website, as between 20 percent and 30 percent of tickets for each flight will be priced at between 100 yuan and 300 yuan. The only requirement for getting these cheap tickets is to buy a week ahead," Gan said.

China Eastern also has an air-plus-train package for passengers who fail to buy a direct train ticket home.

Zhang Chi, senior manager with China Eastern's marketing development department of the marketing and sales committee, said, "The carrier will book and pay for the high-speed train ticket if passengers flying with China Eastern need to go to cities near Shanghai or Wuhan."