This Day, That Year: March 4

Editor's note: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China.

On March 4, 1987, the State Council, China's Cabinet, released a plan to reform the country's civil aviation system, ending the monopoly of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Under the plan, six national airline companies would be set up to compete with the 17 domestic airlines already established at that time. The six were Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, China Southwest Airlines, China Northwest Airlines and China Northern Airlines.

An item on Jan 12, 1996, in China Daily showed the first Boeing 777 owned by China Southern Airlines landing at the Beijing Capital International Airport after its maiden flight from Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

After two decades, China has 60 air transportation companies, 3,588 aircraft, 414 general aviation airlines and 234 airports.

Beijing Capital International Airport has the second-highest level of passenger traffic in the world, while Shanghai Pudong International Airport is the third-largest by cargo traffic.

In 2017, China's civil aviation industry contributed more than 25 percent of the growth in the global civil aviation industry.

China's civil aviation market is expected to see passenger volume reach 1.6 billion by 2037, according to the International Air Transport Association.

The number was just 2.3 million in 1978.

Meanwhile, the country has successfully developed and produced some jets domestically, including the regional ARJ21, which rolled off the assembly line in Shanghai in 2007, and the homegrown large passenger plane, the C919, which took to the air in Shanghai in 2017.

The twin-engine, single-aisle C919 is comparable with the updated Airbus 320 and Boeing's new generation 737 aircraft.

The manufacturer, Commercial Aircraft Corp of China has received 815 orders from 28 Chinese and overseas companies.