China’s need for more airports

Staff -- Logistics Management, 3/3/2006

BEIJING—China has just 196 certified airports for transport aircraft and 329 “General Aviation Temporary Landing Points” to serve a population of just over 1.3 billion. The United States, by comparison, has 14,807 airports for its population of 270 million people. Australia, with just over 20 million, has 444, according to Air Transport World.

China has spent $30 billion since 1990 upgrading 90 landing fields and building 47 new airports. But, development thus far, has been outpaced by demand. The General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) reports that 18 airports were at capacity by the end of 2005 and 29 more will join them by 2010.

Currently, airline operations are concentrated in the coastal regions, with the three major cities accounting for almost 50 percent of departing seats in the Chinese mainland. China’s western regions account for half of the country’s area and 13 percent of the population, yet produce only 0.8 percent of the departing seats in 2004, according to Aircliams International Transport and Tourism Consultancy’s “2004 Airport Analysis.”

To fund the development of airports and improve their commercial capability, the CAAC transferred the ownership of 90 regional facilities to local governments with incentives to invest ahead of potential privatization. This process, started in 2002 and completed in July 2004, involved nearly $5 billion in assets and staff.

CAAC began construction of 35 new airports in 2004, 33 of them regional facilities, and the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation estimates that China will have 240 commercial airports by 2010.