CAAC: China's air travel per capita up three-fold from 2002 to 2011

CAAC director general Li Jiaxiang stated China's average annual air travel per capita increased three-fold from 0.07 in 2002 to 0.2 in 2011, as reported by Xinhua. As at 30-Jun-2012, China had 3098 aircraft including 1853 operating aircraft, 3.1 times more than in 2002. Also at the end of Jun-2012, China had 182 airport, 40 more than in 2002. Mr Li estimates that by 2020, China will have more than 230 airports covering 83% of China's population. The number of air trips is also expected to increase to 700 million, raising China's air travel per capita to 0.5. By 2030, the number of air trips is estimated to more than double to 1.5 billion.