Brief on China's Airports

Although a lot of my focus on logistics relates to ground and sea transportation, air transport is obviously an area I can try to draw some more light on. Earlier this week I came across an article in Logistics Management Online: China's Need for More Airports.

I like the article most for all its statistics. Here are the highlights:

• There are 196 certified airports for transport aircraft and 329 "General Aviation Temporary Landing Points" to serve China's 1.3 billion population (although obviously the market size isn't that big).
• The USA: 14,807 airports for 270 million people.
• Australia: 444 airports for 20 million people.

In other words, if everyone in China wanted to fly today and divided each airport evenly, each airport would have a line with 6.6 million Chinese. The USA would have lines of just over 18 thousand, and Australia just over 45 thousand.

Although the country has invested $30 billion since 1990 in upgrading 90 landing fields and building 47 new airports, development has lagged demand considerably.

Also, as is to be expected, airline operations are concentrated in the coastal regions, with the three major cities accounting for almost 50 percent of departing seats in the Chinese mainland. Although China's western regions account for half of the country's area and 13 percent of the population, they only produce 0.8 percent of the departing seats according to the "2004 Airport Analysis" by Aircliams International Transport and Tourism Consultancy.

All in all, the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation estimates China will have 240 commercial airports by 2010.

Comments

[Steve Schippert]

18,000? Is that all? I see nearly that many hailing cabs at Newark....errr....Liberty Int'l on any given day.