China unveils 5-year plan to advance civil aviation development

BEIJING, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities have issued a plan on the development of the country's civil aviation industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).

By the end of 2025, China will have over 270 civil transport airports, which will handle 17 million takeoffs and landings a year, according to the plan released by Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

The civil aviation sector will handle 930 million passenger trips and 9.5 million tonnes of cargo and parcels annually by 2025.

According to the plan, countries and regions linked to China via flight routes will exceed 70 by 2025. More than 50 of them will be partners under the Belt and Road Initiative.

China's civil aviation sector operated safely during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), with total flight hours hitting 52.7 million, according to CAAC officials.

By the end of 2020, China had a total of 241 certified transport airports, covering 91.7 percent of prefecture-level cities, the officials said.