China's civil airports register robust growth in 2019

BEIJING - China's civil airport industry grew steadily in 2019, reporting rises in passenger and cargo throughput and numbers of airports and flights, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

There were 237 regular service airports on the Chinese mainland in 2019, with four newly opened, including Beijing Daxing International Airport. The number of cities with regular flight service reached 234, said the CAAC.

Annual passenger throughput stood at 1.35 billion trips, up 6.9 percent from 2018. In breakdown, 1.21 billion trips were made on domestic routes (including routes to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan), up 6.5 percent year-on-year. In comparison, the passenger capacity of international flights surged 10.4 percent to 139.4 million trips.

Cargo and mail throughput increased 2.1 percent to 17.1 million tons last year, with those via domestic and international services rising 3.3 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, the CAAC data showed.

Aircraft movements totaled 11.66 million last year, up 5.2 percent year-on-year, within which transport aircraft movements climbed 5.3 percent to 9.87 million, said the CAAC.

The 39 airports, each with an annual passenger throughput over 10 million trips, covered 83.3 percent of the passenger capacity of all domestic airports. While 59 airports had an annual cargo and mail capacity over 10,000 tons, with the joint capacity accounting for 98.4 percent of the total handled by airports nationwide.