(Yicai) Nov. 13 -- The promotional flight pass packages that Chinese airlines rolled out during the pandemic to excite demand look set to remain a regular product, as sales of these fly-all-you-want deals were strong over the Double 11 shopping festival that has just concluded. 

More than 400,000 flight passes, including one known as Fly at Will, were sold on Fliggy during this year's Double 11, according to data from the travel booking platform, which is part of Alibaba Group Holding. That was nearly 100,000 more than in the same period of last year, setting a new record.

Fly at Will was first introduced by China Eastern Airlines in June 2020, allowing people to take unlimited flights during a set period of time. Other domestic carriers soon followed suit, as the industry desperately sought to revive demand amid the pandemic.

Chinese airlines, like many others globally, were upended by the pandemic as air travel plummeted, leading to big losses at the companies.

They have not withdrawn the promotional flight passes since then, even though Covid-19 controls have been lifted, and they have actually launched more. For example, Shanghai-based budget carrier Spring Airlines brought out a new version of its Fly at Will deal in September, with eligible flights expanded to also include international routes for the first time. 

For the airlines, early sales of these popular products have become a key way to acquire customers. The flight passes have brought in five million new customers since airlines began offering them, according to data released by Spring Airlines in May. 

China's civil aviation sector carried 180 million passengers in the third quarter, driven by summer’s high season, up 108 percent from a year ago and 2.6 percent from the same period in 2019, data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China showed. 

Editors: Dou Shicong, Tom Litting