China Plans 45 New Airports As Travel Booms

Even though 130 of China's current 175 existing airports lost money last year, they will be going ahead with plans over the next five years to add 45 more airports, according to Yahoo! News. The new airports will be expected to meet the rising tourism boom in the country of over 1.3 billion people.

Li Jiaxiang, administrator of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, claims that when airports open near farmland, the farmers benefit and incomes increase as produce is more easily transported to larger cities. China's air-travel market is expected to take over North America as the world's biggest in the decades to come.

As reported at AviationRecord.com, the government will be spending over CY.1.5 trillion ($227 billion) to build the additional airports. The number of commercial aircraft operating in China will also increase from 2600 to 4500 by the end of 2015. 57.39 million - an increase of 20.4% - outbound flights were taken by Chinese tourists in 2010. It's expected that by 2015, 83.75 million Chinese will be traveling abroad for vacation.

I've been on plenty of Chinese trains and buses, and from a foreign traveler's perspective, this will be a very welcome option for those making long distance trips, though the environmental price remains to be seen.