Page 14 - AAA NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2012 Online Magazine

FEATURE CHINA AVIATION

aviation authorities. And according to
the country’s current five-year economic
plan, chinese carriers will buy more than
300 planes a year on average, and will be
operating around 4,700 aircraft by 2015,
with a commensurate rise in employees.
impressive figures in a world dominated
by dismal trade and investment figures
from the Western economies.

Building relationships
china’s voracious appetite for more
aircraft will undoubtedly benefit Airbus,
which signed an agreement earlier this
year to supply 50 additional aircraft from
its assembly factory in tianjin. the deal
is worth approximately Us$4 billion,
and Airbus also expects to purchase
chinese governments and local components worth nearly Us$500 million
authorities plan to build 70 new airports from china in 2015.
and to expand 100 existing airports, the tianjin assembly factory – a
with the ultimate goal of more than 230 joint venture (jV) between Airbus and a
significant-sized locations by the end chinese consortium whose members
of 2015, civil Aviation Administration include the tianjin Free trade Zone and
of china (cAAc) chief li jiaxiang told the china Aviation industry corporation –
delegates at the annual general meeting will produce the A320neo, which is due to
of global airline industry group iAtA, at enter service in 2015.
Beijing in june this year. this is far from the only jV that has
li added that by the end of 2011, been signed in recent times between
china had 2,888 commercial aircraft chinese and established Western
in operation and its aviation industry partners, as international manufacturers
already employed 1.2 million people. it seek to strategically enter the potentially
According to many, also had around 1,100 general aviation massive market by building relationships
Chinese aviation’s hopes aircraft, with numbers projected to grow with chinese partners. eurocopter, which
for the future lie with the rapidly to meet the expected 10,000 to has a 40% market share in china, plans
Comac C919 12,000 required by 2020, say china’s civil to form a jV with the tianjin Free trade

CHINESE AVIATION STATS The following chart showcases the growth in
In 2011, China’s airports handled more than
620 million capacity between August 2011 and August 2012 in
some of the top Chinese airports.
Xiamen 4%
passengers, 10% more than in 2010. Beijing 9% Hangzhou 9.5%

According to CAAC data, Chinese airline capacity Chengdu 10.5% Xi’an 24.2%
grew by 15% in the year to August 2012, almost Kunming 6.5%
six times faster Guangzhou 7.5%

than the 2.7% average for the region. Shanghai Hongqiao 5% Chongqing 10.5%
Source: www.anna.aero Shenzhen 7.5% Shanghai Pudong 8%

14 ASIAN AIRLINES & AIRPORTS NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2012 WWW.ASIANAIRLINES-AIRPORTS.COM