China's Xinjiang Airport Group reports record passenger, cargo traffic in 2024

China's Xinjiang Airport Group logged record passenger and cargo traffic in 2024, serving around 48.5 million passengers and completing 302,000 tons of cargo and postal throughput in its 27 airports.

Passenger and cargo traffic grew by 18.4 percent and 47.5 percent, respectively, while the total number of flight takeoffs and landings reached 563,000, up 14.7 percent from the previous year.

Urumqi Diwopu International Airport, located in the capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, further optimized its route network in 2024, and handled about 27.77 million passenger trips, marking a 10.7 percent year-on-year increase.

Cargo throughput surged by 52.1 percent, reaching 235,900 tons, while flight operations rose by 6.8 percent, totaling 188,700 takeoffs and landings.

The airport now operates 240 regular passenger and cargo routes.

"Passenger trips by international travelers and those by travelers from China's Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan reached 564,200, marking a 97.5 percent year-on-year increase. Additionally, the number of cargo routes expanded to 25 cities across 18 countries, marking a remarkable 569.4 percent rise," said Jiang Yumeng, a staff member at the transportation hub construction center of the marketing and service committee of Xinjiang Airport Group.

In 2024, Kashi Laining International Airport, Yarkant (Shache) Airport, and Tashkurgan Khunjerab Airport, managed by the Kashi branch of Xinjiang Airport Group, also achieved record passenger traffic. As of Nov 12, 2024, Kashi Airport's annual passenger trips exceeded four million for the first time.

"Kashi Airport offers direct flights for those traveling for school or tourism. With a wide range of routes available, the airport makes travel more convenient," said a passenger.

In 2024, Xinjiang operated a total of 547 regular routes, including 28 international and regional passenger services. By the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), the region is expected to have 33 airports in operation or under construction.

China's Xinjiang Airport Group reports record passenger, cargo traffic in 2024

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 45,854, with 109,139 others injured, the Gaza-based health ministry said in a statement on Monday.

In the past 24 hours alone, at least 48 people have been killed and 75 injured in the enclave, according to the statement.

At least 19 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes across Gaza, while an infant died due to severe cold weather on Monday, according to Palestinian sources.

The Al-Awda Hospital said in a press statement that 40 people, most of them children, were injured after an Israeli drone dropped an explosive bomb in the yard of a school housing displaced people west of the al-Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.

The Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, said in a statement that seven people, including two children, were killed by Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling on neighboring Rafah City.

Meanwhile, the Gaza-based health authorities said in a press statement that a 35-day-old infant Youssef Kalloub froze to death on Monday.

In a statement, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office warned that the number is likely to rise due to the harsh conditions experienced by displaced people in Gaza.

It urged the international community to compel Israel to stop the war and end its "serious repercussions," while calling on Arab countries to offer more humanitarian aid to the enclave amidst cold weather and lack of shelter.

Palestinian death toll from Israeli attacks in Gaza rises to 45,854