BEIJING, Feb. 18 -- China's air passenger trips reached 17.99 million during the Spring Festival holiday that ran from Feb. 10 to 17 this year, official data showed Sunday.

During the period, the civil aviation sector handled 2.25 million passenger trips per day, hitting a record high, data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) revealed.

According to the CAAC, Chinese airports handled a total of 137,000 flights during the holiday, with average daily flights rising 33.2 percent from a year ago to 17,117.

Domestic passenger flights stood at 14,138 per day on average, an increase of 23.5 percent over the same period last year, the data showed.