Civil Aviation and Airports
see: Airlines in Shanghai
As a result of the rapidly expanding civil
aviation industry, by 2005 China had 489 airports of all types and
sizes in operation, 389 of which had paved runways and 89 of which had
runways of 3,047 meters or shorter. There also were 30 heliports, an
increasingly used type of facility. With the additional airports came a
proliferation of airlines.
In 2002 the government merged the nine
largest airlines into three regional groups based in Beijing, Shanghai,
and Guangzhou, respectively: Air China, China Eastern Airlines, and
China Southern Airlines, which operate most of China’s external
flights. By 2005 these three had been joined by six other major
airlines: Hainan Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Shandong Airlines, Xiamen
Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, and Sichuan Airlines. Together, these nine
airlines had a combined fleet of some 860 aircraft, mostly Boeing from
the United States and Airbus from France.
To meet growing demands for
passenger and cargo capacity, in 2005 these airlines significantly
expanded their fleets with orders placed for additional Boeing and
Airbus aircraft expected to be delivered by 2010. In June 2006, it was
announced that an Airbus A320 assembly plant would be built in the
Binhai New Area of Tianjin, with the first aircraft to be delivered in
2008. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), also called
the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China, was established
as a government agency in 1949 to operate China’s commercial air fleet.
In 1988 CAAC’s operational fleet was transferred to new, semi autonomous
airlines and has served since as a regulatory agency.
Major airports
include the Capital International Airport, located 27 kilometers
northeast of central Beijing; two in Shanghai under the control of the
Shanghai Airport Authority: Hongqiao International Airport, which is
located 13 kilometers west of central Shanghai, and Pudong
International Airport, which is located 30 kilometers southeast of
central Shanghai; and the new Baiyun International Airport, which
opened in August 2004 and is located 28 kilometers from downtown
Guangzhou.
Other major airports are located at Chengdu, Dalian,
Hangzhou, Harbin, Hohhot, Kunming, Qingdao, Shenyang, Tianjin, Urumqi,
Xiamen, and Xi’an. Additionally, the Hong Kong International Airport,
located at Chek Lap Kok on Lantau Island 34 kilometers northwest of
Hong Kong Island. China is served both by numerous major international
flights to most countries of the world and a host of domestic regional
airlines. In 2003 China’s civil aviation sector carried nearly 2.2
million tons of freight and 126.3 trillion passenger/kilometers.
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