CHINA’S air transport sector has seen fast growth in the past few years but still has huge potential, according to an industry insider.
“China is in the transition from a large nation to a strong nation in terms of civil aviation,” Li Jun, chairman of the China Air Transport Association, said yesterday.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China has estimated that total air transport turnover was up 12.5 percent year-on-year in 2017 to 108.3 billion ton per km, and a total of 549 million passenger trips were made, up 12.6 percent year on year.
The strong growth was about 3 percentage points faster than the growth in the 2011-2015 period, Li said.
China aims to realize 142 billion ton per km of air transport turnover by 2020, an annual average growth of 10.8 percent in the 2016-2020 period.
To meet the target, the sector will face greater safety pressure than before and must put safety first, Li said.
The civil aviation sector is still facing constraints in terms of infrastructure, human resources and innovation capability to realize safe and high-quality development, he added.
China’s air logistics sector is underdeveloped, Li said, citing a small number of air freighters and insufficient use of cargo capacity.
(Xinhua)