A source from the First China Airport Summit held in Shanghai on April 4th disclosed that of China's 137 airports, four in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou accounted for 40 percent of domestic airport market share. Most of the 85 airports with an annual passenger volume less than 500,000 passengers suffered losses.

Zhang Guanghui, director of the Airport Department of the General Administration of Civil Aviation, pointed out that the airport business in China is not well proportioned and is highly concentrated in large cities, particularly Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Two airports in Shanghai hosted more than 35.96 million passengers last year, accounting for about 15 percent of China's 240 million of passengers.

62 percent of airports in China are considered "small-scale," and there are 55 "minimum" airports that each has an annual passenger volume of less than 100,000.

While these "minimum" airports account for 41 percent of China's airports, their passenger throughput makes up 0.8 percent of the national total, making it difficult to maintain normal operation.

The growth rate of China's airport construction will speed up in the coming years. And the number of airports in China is expected to reach about 185 by 2020.

Zhang believes that the government should continue to improve the current establishment of large- and medium-scale airports, increase regional airports and form an airport system with a reasonable arrangement and clear functions

(Chinanews.cn April 8, 2005)