Flight hours, air routes soar in past five years

World
Europe

China's civil aviation industry witnessed an average growth of 11.2 percent in flight hours over the past five years, data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) revealed on Tuesday.

Annual flying time has soared to 10.5 million hours, up from 6.19 million hours, over the past five years, with a total number of civil planes increasing to 3,177 from 1,922, said Tang Weibin, an official with the CAAC.

At the end of 2016, the transport volume had surged in civil flights to 1.53 times in passengers and 1.23 times in goods, respectively, that of 2012, according to Ji Yuan, another CAAC official.

Regular air routes in China reached 3,794 by the end of last year, 54.4 percent higher than 2012.

From August 2010 to the end of last month, China's civil aviation industry's total safe flying time accumulated to over 54 million hours, with no casualty registered, the best air traffic safety records by far.

China has had the world's second-largest civil aviation industry regarding air transport scale for 12 consecutive years, after the United States, said Ji.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency