China's Air Transport Volume of Passengers Ranks World 6thStarted from scratch, China's civil aviation industry has made rapid growth over the past half century, with its transport volume of passengers ranking 6th in the world.Latest statistics from the departments concerned show that the present daily passenger transport volume handled by China's civil aviation industry is 17 times that in the whole year of 1950. Materials show that currently China's civil aviation industry has opened up more than 110 air routes for scheduled flights, including over 130 international airlines leading to 60-plus cities in some 30 countries, with total mileage exceeding 1.5 million km. The whole industry has 1,004 airplanes of various types. The placing of China's total air transport turnover volume among the contracting parties of the international civil aviation organization has gone up from 37th in 1978 to 10th; and the transport volume of passengers from 33rd to 6th. In November 1949, the establishment of the Military Commission Civil Aviation Bureau composed of personnel transferred from land and air forces marked the birth of New China's civil aviation industry. By the end of 1950, China had opened only seven air routes, including three international ones. At that time it had only 12 airplanes, transporting not more than 10,000 persons/time in the whole year. After the launch of the reform and opening-up drive, China civil aviation industry entered a new period of sustained and rapid development. Today, it has formed an air transport network radiating to various directions and linking main countries and regions round the world. By PD Online staff member Yin Zhili |
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