China's civil aviation sector began implementing new schedules for its summer-autumn air transport season on Sunday, with international flight services rising 1.8 percent year on year, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

The new season, which runs from March 29 to Oct. 24, will see 222 domestic and foreign airlines operating a total of 121,000 passenger and cargo flights per week, roughly in line with the same period last year.

In total, 191 domestic and foreign airlines are scheduled to operate 21,047 international flights per week, up 1.8 percent from a year earlier. The network will span 86 countries, with Cyprus newly added as a destination, according to the CAAC.

On domestic routes, 61 airlines plan to operate 97,428 passenger flights and 2,538 cargo flights per week.

Among them, 34 carriers will launch 434 new domestic routes, which will mainly link China's northwest, northeast and southwest regions with eastern and central-southern China.