BEIJING — China's air travel continued to recover in July, rising for three months in a row, the country's civil aviation authority said on Aug 18.

China's civil aviation industry handled approximately 34 million passenger trips last month, surging 54.5 percent month-on-month, Zhu Tao, an official with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), told a press conference.

The total air transport turnover hit 6.8 billion ton-km in July, growing 27.5 percent month-on-month, Zhu said.

The volume of cargo and mail transported by air came in at 539,000 tons, down 2.1 percent from a month earlier, CAAC data showed.

In July, the punctuality rate of Chinese airlines reached 89.1 percent.