Spring Festival travel rush gets started

Transportation sector ramps up to maximum capacity to manage 40 days of heavy demand

The country's transportation sectors geared up on Wednesday to full capacity to handle the annual surge of travelers at the start of the 40-day Spring Festival holiday rush.

More than 1 million trips were made via 12,500 airline flights on the first day of the holiday period, known as chunyun, which will run until March 16, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.