A spokesperson with the air force said that in order to support the development of civil aviation, the Chinese army has relocated 10 airports and closed 457 drilling airspaces.

In the article titled "It is the Joint Responsibility of the Whole Society to Maintain Air Security" which was published on the website of Ministry of National Defense on February 18, he said the army has relocated 10 airports, handed over 13 airports to civil aviation, shared 63 airports with civil aviation, and closed 457 drilling airspaces, thus vigorously supporting the development of civil aviation which grows at the average rate of over 10 percent.

He said the air force uniformly organizes the flight control in the territory of China, which is not only the requirement for ensuring national air defense security, but also is a necessary measure for maintaining air order and security. Flight control should not only effectively maintain air order and ensure territorial air security and flight security, but also offer services to the army's combat-readiness training flights, the civil aviation's public transport flights and the general aviation flights, thus more efficiently developing and utilizing airspace resources.

The article is edited and translated from《军队迁10个机场关457个训练空域支持民航发展》, source: People's Daily Online.