China's transportation sector has been busy these days to increase its transport capacity to cope with anticipated surge in the number of passengers during the Spring Festival season from January 21 to February 29.

The Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines announced it will increase its number of flights by about 1,000 on both domestic and international routes.

In Nanjing, capital of the neighboring Jiangsu Province, a travel agency has reserved 44 chartered flights to such tourist cities as Beijing, Guilin and Bangkok.

The Shanghai Railways Administration has arranged 228 pairs of passenger trains for the festive season, 11 pairs more than last year. On the Shanghai-Hangzhou route alone, two trains will run in opposite directions every 30 minutes.

According to an official estimate, the country's transportation sector is expected to handle some 1.6 billion passengers during the Spring Festival period. This year's Spring Festival starts February 5.

It is estimated that some 129 million passengers will take trains during the holiday period, an increase of five percent on an annual basis. Those to travel by road and air would reach 1.4 billion and 6.8 million, respectively.