The Chinese Government has confirmed it is planning to invest around CNY77bn ($11.7bn) in civil aviation projects this year, including new airports and airports-related infrastructure, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

 

Last month, the CAAC said it will engage this investment with around 11 key construction projects and 52 aviation-related upgrades as the government acknowledges the urgent need to expand and upgrade to meet ever-growing demand.

 

IMPROVED AIRSPACE ALLOCATION

This news comes at the same time that the CAAC has reported that the country’s ‘civil licensed’ airports handled 915m passengers in 2015, with 206 of these airports operating scheduled flights to 204 cities – excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

 

[Click here for more details: http://www.trbusiness.com/regional-news/asia-pacific/caac-counts-915m-pax-10-at-chinese-airports/105793#sthash.EIPaZNCQ].

 

 

In addition, the State Council also issued more policy guidelines last month on the development of the general aviation industry. This is based on government data which shows that the general aviation industry consists of more than 300 airports today, along with 1,874 commercial aircraft.

 

To meet future demand, the CAAC has released new guidelines which propose increasing the number of commercial airports to more than 500, serving some 5,000 commercial aircraft by the end of 2020. This will include smaller-capacity aircraft in rural areas where the demand is not so concentrated.

 

MORE SMALLER AIRCRAFT

Last, but certainly not least, the country’s planners are also working towards relieving the horrendous congestion that exists at major airports around the country where delays have long become the norm for long suffering passengers.

 

This has mostly been caused by the heavy demands of military aircraft on air space corridors, so restricting the number of civil aircraft that utilise certain routes and certain flying heights.

 

As a result, China’s State Council has announced it is considering opening up lower altitude corridors to smaller commercial aircraft, turboprops and helicopters to take some of the pressure off the major commercial sector.