China's civil aviation transport logged a steady rebound in January 2023, as the country optimized its anti-virus response and demand picked up during the Spring Festival travel rush.

Total transport turnover of the sector stood at 7.39 billion tonne-kilometers, up 13.9 percent year on year, Wu Shijie, an official with the Civil Aviation Administration of China, told a press conference on Thursday.

More than 39.77 million air passenger trips were handled last month, surging 34.8 percent year on year, recovering to 74.5 percent of the level in the same period of 2019.

In January, total transport turnover and cargo and mail volume of China's civil aviation sector recovered to 69.5 percent and 72.9 percent of the 2019 level, respectively, Wu said.

During the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, which ended Wednesday, 55.23 million air passenger trips were made. The number of daily passenger trips hit 1.38 million on average, soaring 39 percent from the same travel rush in 2022 and rebounding to 76 percent of the pre-epidemic level, said Shang Kejia, an official with the administration.

The number of flights rose by 15 percent from the same period last year, recovering to over 80 percent of the pre-epidemic level, while the average passenger load factor stood at 74 percent, up 10 percentage points, Shang said.