China father flies little girl, 7, in two-seater plane to rural hometown for Lunar New Year to skip traffic jams
- Girl naps as journey takes 50 minutes to fly home, 3 hours by road
- Spring Festival sees 9 billion trips made in world’s biggest annual migration
Mainland social media has been stunned by a man in China who flew a plane to take his seven-year-old daughter to their rural hometown for Lunar New Year to avoid the annual heavy traffic jams.
The man, surnamed Wang, from eastern China’s Anhui province, who trains pilots, said he had been flying his daughter home in the two-seater aircraft for years for festivals and holidays.
Wang said it took them 50 minutes to fly to his parents’ home, two hours quicker than driving, and the little girl became so used to it she would nap on the journeys.
He said all he needed to do was apply for use of the route a few hours in advance, and check he was permitted to park at the flying camp near his parents’ home.
Wang said the small airplane they used cost 1.1 million yuan (US$155,000), and could fly 1,200km on a full tank of fuel.
China’s Spring Festival travel rush, also known as Chunyun, is the world’s largest annual human migration, because it is a popular time for family reunions.