Some Chinese airlines were recently blasted for significantly raising ticket prices for flights departing from Hainan, China’s southernmost island province, which is also a hot tourist destination during the Spring Festival holiday.

Ticket prices for some flights departing from Haikou and Sanya, two airports in Hainan, reached 10,000 to 20,000 RMB on the last days of Spring Festival holidays, Beijing Youth Daily reported.

Such high price tickets do exist, said staff members from Southern Airlines and Hainan Airlines. However, they are full price tickets for first class or business class. The staff denied a sudden fare rise in a phone interview with People’s Daily Online.

Generally, discount tickets of economy class are easy to buy during the off season. For the peak seasons like the Spring Festival holiday, economy class tickets have already been sold out, while the small amount available at present are all first or business class tickets with no discounts, said an airline company.

The full fare tickets of all airlines are priced by the National Development and Reform Commission and shall not be increased by any company, an airline told Beijing Youth Daily.

Another reason for high ticket fares lies in the absence of direct flights. For example, a passenger may spend 1,430 RMB for a full price economic seat on a plane from Haikou, capital of Hainan province to Guangzhou. Owing to short supply, passengers travel between the two cities may have to spend more than 10,000 yuan on luxurious flights and transit through a third city.

As of press time, there are no direct flight tickets available from Haikou to Beijing until Feb. 27, and all the tickets in a recent week from Sanya to Beijing have been sold out.

To ease the traffic pressure, more flights have been arranged to take stranded passengers back home, said a staff from Southern Airlines, adding that the company also provides services to help book tickets from its cooperative airlines. Hainan Airlines has replaced three common planes with wide-body aircraft Friday to provide another 300 seats.

Airlines suggested that the stranded tourists take other means of transportation, such as ferry service, to leave the island. It’s reported that ferry services disrupted by a heavy fog have resumed Thursday morning, but still there are a large number of cars and passengers queuing for a ship.