China Plans 45 New Airports Over The Next 5 Years

BEIJING — China plans to build at least 45 new airports in the next five years to serve booming travel, the top industry regulator said Thursday.

The plans call for spending 1.5 trillion yuan ($230 billion) to expand air travel, said Li Jiaxiang, administrator of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Some 130 of China's 175 existing airports lost money last year but Beijing will support them to boost local economic growth, Li said at a news conference.

He said incomes in farming areas have risen when airports open nearby, allowing their fruit and vegetables to be flown to more prosperous major cities.

China's fast-growing air travel market is expected to pass North America as the world's biggest in coming decades.

Li said the plans call for increasing the number of airports to at least 220 in the next five years.

He gave no indication where they would be, but Beijing is spending heavily to develop poorer areas and China's west and link them to booming eastern cities.

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Civil Aviation Administration of China (in Chinese): http://www.caac.gov.cn

Comments

[MarkFriesen]

08:00 PM on 02/27/2011

While China has had strong economic development, but the growth has been mostly in the south-east and east, such as Shenzen, Shanghai and Beijing. The disparate growth has caused migration from the poorer areas to these cites. Finding ways to spread the wealth to the rest of the country is well recognized by Chinese officials as a significant and difficult problem. Building airports as part of a more comprehensive regional economic stimulus and transportation strategies (including high-speed rail) is an example of the long-term thinking that China is known for. Something us Americans could learn from.

[miketothad]

11:37 AM on 02/25/2011

And we can't get a couple more train lines.
So much for "conservative" "patriotism".

[gokulram arunasalam]

08:41 AM on 02/25/2011

If India can replicate at least a fraction of China's infrastructure build, many of its problems would be addressed.

[blueline2]

12:32 AM on 02/25/2011

How do I find out about vacant jobs designing the airports there? There are no jobs here.

[FoxIslander]

04:39 PM on 02/25/2011

pretty sure your in the same proffession as me...my youngest son graduated with a business degree last year...few jobs here...he moved to China and enrolled in an intensive mandarin class at a Chinese univ. and teaches english at the same univ...if you build for a living, you have to move to Asia, or find a firm with extensive Asian operations...nothing going on here...everything going on there. Good luck.

[ProudMilVet]

12:31 AM on 02/25/2011

We'd be lucky to build 5 airports in 45 years. And to think we went to the Moon & back several times. Sad.

[kdlaiusa]

02:51 AM on 02/25/2011

We've built enough long ago. China is a developing country.

[FoxIslander]

04:40 PM on 02/25/2011

...dont compare our delapidated airports with what has been built in Asia.

[minidriver]

10:47 PM on 02/25/2011

Funny that pretty much everything that got us to the Moon came about under Democratic administrations.

[osofar]

09:10 PM on 02/24/2011

China is moving right along building infrastructure instead of mindless wars, and using our generous donations to do so. Why the USA is declining, and China will be the next superpower.

[FreeProgressLiberal]

09:05 PM on 02/24/2011

While we are still stuck with the dungeons that are SFO, O'Hare, and La Guardia

[Hard2kill]

08:22 PM on 02/24/2011

The government of China is taking over the world while majority of Chinese people are leaving on streets without job. China is everywhere..
http://hotelsinmanila.info

[osofar]

09:11 PM on 02/24/2011

The majority of Chinese people are not living on the streets with no jobs...come here and see.

[Hard2kill]

09:38 PM on 02/25/2011

Oh yeah, that's the reason why China is grabbing all available islands near the mainland, and many chinese living offshore too...More than 20% of Philippine's population is chinese....enough said..

[chedet]

06:33 PM on 02/25/2011

Sounds like America now.

[Zia]

07:41 PM on 02/24/2011

While at the same we are closing few here in US.....

[KarateKid]

07:02 PM on 02/24/2011

And watch, they STILL won't queue in line properly.

[DoyouhaveaflagUK]

01:55 PM on 02/24/2011

Yes more airports, that's what the world needs. Forget about farming and feeding your people- cats and dogs are always on the menu.

[PaPaPeng]

04:52 PM on 02/24/2011

Nope. Just for China. China is a continental sized country with many inland areas that are barely accessible by roads. Air links will accelerate their development and modernization. As for food security China is essentially self sufficient in food grains. This is a priority strategic policy that China remains self sufficient. Besides agriculture within China the authorities have also leased large tracts of farmland in neighboring countries (Russia, the central Asian 'stan' countries) and in Africa for large scale farms to produce food to meet Chinese demand. There is so much going on in China to develop and to address the many problems that come with breakneck paced development that any thing you can come up with to put China down had already been addressed. It will be more rewarding to you find out more about what China is doing than to keep shouting "it can't be happening." Already your country is falling backwards as far as progressive developments are concerned. You are broke and clueless except in the field of making more and more complex weapons that is quite useless in fighting the kind of wars your enemies wage now.

[Philip Kavanaugh]

01:22 AM on 02/25/2011

You make many apt comments about our two countries. Sadly the U.S. has evolved into a country with more and more who care less and less about others. Our government is somewhat like a 'magic show.' Mostly smoke and mirrors. Real power is not in Washington or state Capitals. It is in wealthy corporations who 'purchase' representatives who support and enhance their wealth. Truly the rich get richer etc. Technology and Spirituality are the main hopes for survival of the so-called American Empire. Perhaps the most blatant example is our dependence on foreign based petrochemicals. I have often wondered "what if" America could return to its roots and 'develop' its resources as it once did.? Are countries simply made up of individuals who 'only grow up when they HAVE to? Will we require tragedies to ignite our passion for 'individuals'? I think so. Our economy has been 'war salvaged' too often. Far easier than looking at ourselves as our only real enemy. Yes, avoid looking within. Always see the source of our problem 'out there'. . Besides war we explore space, look for myriads of ways to 'prolong life.' I call life as we know it 'the attraction of distraction'. Sadly every 'empire' goes through the same stages. China will too. It will merely be years or decades later.

[FoxIslander]

04:45 PM on 02/25/2011

It's what China needs. China has done an amazing job at feeding it's people. You should get out more.

[TJustice]

01:48 PM on 02/24/2011

Who is number 1 or number 2 --world power?

[Boodieugwumba]

12:41 PM on 02/24/2011

Great! This makes it easier for the conservative Americans who would not want to build more, or even maintain the ones at home to feel comfortable when they land in China with their money. It doesn't matter that they have to go to Canada on horse drawn carriages in order to catch a flight.

[littlepuffycloud]

12:44 PM on 02/24/2011

f&f