Chinese airlines need to add 7,630 passenger aircraft before the year 2038 to meet rising passenger demand and replace retired planes, the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) has projected.

AVIC on Thursday released its annual forecast for the country's civil aviation market between 2019 and 2038 in Xi'an, the capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Among China's fleet of aircraft, 1,460 are wide-body airplanes with two aisles; 5,168 are narrow-body airplanes with a single aisle; and 1,002 are regional jets, smaller aircraft with fewer than 100 seats, said Huang Yumin, deputy director of AVIC's development and research center.

Narrow-body airplanes will continue to make up the largest proportion of aircraft fleets. But congested major airports and air routes, as well as overseas business expansion, will lead to more demand for wide-body aircraft, said the annual report.

In the next two decades, the passenger load factor for Chinese airlines is expected to remain above 84 percent, according to the annual report.