CHINA's state-owned aircraft producer, Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), estimates 4,583 passenger planes need to be added to China's civilian fleet over the next 20 years, reports China Securities Journal.

    Speaking at the 14th Aviation Expo China in Beijing, AVIC research and development executive Wang Boxue said China's air cargo sector would grow faster than the passenger side, pointing to a continuing trend over the last 10 years, mostly affecting the foreign market with domestic air cargo growing at a slower rate.

    AVIC expects that China's air transport turnover of passenger and cargo will keep at an annual growth rate of 8.1 per cent and nine per cent respectively between 2011 and 2030. By 2030, the country's air passenger transport turnover will reach 1.9 trillion people per kilometre, about 4.7 times that of 2010, while its air cargo transport turnover will come to 99.6 billion tonnes per kilometre, 5.6 times the volume of 2010.

    To meet the demand of air transport growth, China's civil air fleet will increase 4,583 passenger planes, including 3,682 large jets and 901 regional aircraft, and add 722 air freighters to its existing 87 planes.

    According to AVIC's Annual Report of China's Civil Air Market Forecast of 2011 to 2030, China's air transport turnover of passenger and cargo grew 16.1 per cent and 26.4 per cent respectively in 2010 over the previous year with a total increase of 26.1 per cent.

    Passenger volume has grown 15.3 per cent a year over the past decade, three times the world average for the same period. Aircraft of China's air transport fleet grew three times more than that of 2000 to 1,593 ones in 2010 while airport quantity increase to 175 from 139 in 2000.

(source:http://www.shippingonline.cn/news/newsList.asp?classname=News)