China's civil aviation industry maintains 17.6pc annual growth rate

THE Civil Aviation Administration of China has released data showing China's civil air aviation industry has maintained an annual growth rate of 17.6 per cent in the past 30 years, reports Xinhua.

China became the fastest growing air transport market with greatest potential development in 2005 when it jumped to the second place in global air transport network, the 68th IATA annual general meeting was told.

The director of Civil Aviation Administration, Li Jiaxiang says China's civil aviation industry will continue to have robust growth over the next 10 to 20 years. Currently, China's civil aviation has lacked support in capacity and infrastructure, especially when main airports are operating at full load. China plans to build 70 new airports and expand 100 in the next several years.

By the end of 2015, China expects to have more than 230 airports, 2,700 cargo aircraft, 2,000 general aircraft, and a transport capacity of 450 million passenger trips. By 2020, airports are expected to number 240 with an annual capacity of 700 million passenger trips.

Air China chairman Wang Changshun said the civil aviation market's present condition is more severe than it was in 2008 because of the European debt crisis, which is increasingly deteriorating and threatening a global economic downturn.

The domestic market is in better shape, he said, while the cargo business is better than passenger business, and feeder services are better off than the mainline services. Air China will increase the aircraft number to about 700, making itself one of the biggest in the world's air transport industry.