China is deemed to have a major shortage of civil aviation airports when compared to other developed nations, and there is a pressing need to accelerate the development of civil aviation airports in China, according to the director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), Jiaxiang Li.
Mr. Li said that there are more than 200 civil aviation airports in China, of which 50 are profitable, and 30 airports are currently under construction and 60 airports are being expanded.
He said the rate of airport development is not catching up with the growing demand. “Global air freight only constitutes 2% of the total freight volume but the value of global freight carried by air is 46% of total global freight value. The demand in China for air freight is on the rise under the current economic situation. For example, air freight is currently 0.7% of total freight volume in Shanghai but is 33% of the city’s total freight in value. Nationally, air freight volume grew by 15% while China’s GDP was up 7% in Q1 this year,” he said.
"Civil aviation has an important role in providing an integrated force to power the economic in the long term,” he maintained.(Translation by David)
