BEIJING - At least 1,226 Chinese who had been caught in the unrest in Libya returned to the country Sunday by chartered flights as the Chinese government continued to evacuate Chinese nationals from the region.

A flight of the national flag carrier Air China arrived in Beijing Sunday morning from Crete, Greece, bringing 326 Chinese back home.

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A flight chartered from China Southern Airlines, the nation's biggest carrier by fleet size, returned with 350 Chinese from the island of Djerba, Tunisia, to Beijing at 4 pm Sunday.

The airline planned four flights between west China's Urumqi and the island of Djerba every day from February 28 to March 10 for evacuees. It aimed to carry more than 10,000 Chinese by making 46 flights over the period.

Two chartered flights of China Eastern Airlines evacuated 550 Chinese from Malta to Shanghai Sunday afternoon. The Chinese nationals were earlier transferred to Malta from Libya amid the country's unfolding unrest.

The Shanghai-based carrier is set to send four chartered flights a day from February 28 to March 3 to evacuate more than 5,000 Chinese who temporarily stay in Malta.

Chinese aviation authorities Saturday decided to prepare 15 aircraft each day for the next two weeks to carry home nationals from the north African country.

As of Saturday, almost 16,000 Chinese had been evacuated from Libya, according to the Foreign Ministry.