More than 3 million Chinese traveled by planes during the week-long National Day holiday, which ended on Friday, an official with the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) told Xinhua Saturday.

From Oct. 1 to 7, CAAC dispatched 26.459 domestic flights carrying 3.03 million travelers, up 6.8 percent and 17.5 percent year-on-year, respectively, statistics from CAAC showed.

On Oct. 1, the National Day, alone, CAAC dispatched a record 3,423 flights. The airports in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou handled a total of 971,000 passengers, 160,000 more than in the same period of last year, the official said.

China now has three "Golden Week" holidays -- Spring Festival, International Labor Day, and National Day. The holiday scheme, initiated by the Chinese government in 1999, aims to boost domestic demand, stimulate consumption, and restructure the economy. As the prolonged holidays have turned out to be "golden" for the economy, they have become known as "Golden Week".

(Xinhua News Agency October 9, 2005)