China's aviation sector will aim to turn losses into profits this year with an expected recovery to 85 percent of its pre-COVID volume of domestic passenger trips, the aviation regulator said on Monday.

Air passenger trips would likely exceed 570 million this year, compared with about 660 million in 2019 before COVID-19, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said in a work meeting.

"Barring repeated fluctuations in COVID-19, we will strive to reverse losses and achieve profitability this year," the CAAC said in a statement.

The sector has been mired in deep losses since COVID-19 struck in early 2020, with China's three biggest airlines, Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines, posting a combined loss of 32.5 billion yuan ($5.10 billion) in the first three quarters of 2021, after a 42 billion yuan loss in 2020.

China aims to have over 270 civil airports by 2025, part of the nation's next five-year development plan for the aviation sector, the CAAC announced last Friday. That compared with 241 civil airports by the end of 2020.

(With input from Reuters)