China's aviation authority reported big rises in passengers and cargo volume last year thanks to the booming tourism market.

Domestic airports handled 388 million passengers last year, rising 16.8 percent from a year earlier, while cargo and mail volume grew 14.3 percent to 8.61 million tons, said the General Administration of Civil Aviation.

About 38 million passengers rode on international routes, rising 17.5 percent, said the administration.

Among the 148 airports on the Chinese mainland, 47 facilities sent 95.4 percent of the total passengers and 10 of them sent more than 10 million passengers annually. Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou handled 35.1 percent of the passengers and 58.8 percent of cargo and mail.

In January, the airports handled 14.82 million passengers, a rise of 18.3 percent from a year earlier, and 364,516 tons of cargo and mail, gaining 24.5 percent.

The country will invest 450 billion yuan (US$63.20 billion) in expanding the number of civil airports to 190 by 2010, and 244 by 2020. Officials said the current network is not capable of fulfilling the booming market and many regional airports have been saturated.

Cargo and mail handling volume at domestic airports is expected to grow at an average of 15 percent annually by 2020, with an 11.4-percent growth of passenger volume.

The administration also said it will not approve any new airline company until 2010, and will tighten controls on new aircraft.

However, administration Director Li Jiaxiang said on Thursday that CAAC is considering loosening the approval process for regional airlines to encourage them to buy aircraft made in China.

China Eastern Airlines and plane maker China Aviation Industry Corp I have already received regulatory approval to set up a regional airline named Happiness.

Fifty Chinese-made Xinzhou-60 Turboprops will serve the carrier at the first stage. The fleet size will be expanded to 100 after 50 ARJ21 jets are put into use.

(Shanghai Daily March 9, 2008)