Chinese air transportation authorities will buy 400 planes and build 43 more airports over the next 5 years to accommodate the rising number of travelers.
By 2005, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) is expecting airlines to be caring 100 million passengers a year.
CAAC’s annual cargo carrying capacity will reach 2.8 million tons by 2005, up from the 1.97 million tons carried last year, it said. According to Association of International Aviation, the ranking of cargo capacities of China moves from the 33rd (in 1978) to 6th (in 2000). If it includes Hong Kong and Macau, then the ranking will be the 3rd in the world.
The new airplanes and airports will increase the number of domestic airports to 172 and the number of planes owned by CAAC to 657, compared with last year. Twenty-three of the 43 new airports will be in the west of China.
Until last year, CAAC has 129 transportation airports, in which 23 of them can handle Boeing 747 planes; 103 can handle Boeing 737 planes. In the coming 5 years, CAAC is going to build 43 more airports.