China.org.cn | October 28, 2020
Hu Kaihong:
Thanks Mr. Li, and now let's welcome Mr. Feng to give us an introduction.
Feng Zhenglin:
Ladies and gentlemen, friends from media, just now Mr. Li gave us a systematic introduction of the overall achievements of transportation development during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. Now, I would like to make a brief introduction on the development of China's civil aviation industry.
The five-year period of the 13th Five-Year Plan has proved to be very extraordinary and important for the development of civil aviation. Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the scale of transportation has grown rapidly, the security situation has remained stable overall, and service quality has steadily improved. Guarantee capabilities have been markedly enhanced, and deepening reform has been further promoted. The sector's overall development conforms to the plan, and the comprehensive strength of the sector has stepped up to the front rank globally. China is making efforts to move from a major country to a global power in air traffic.
First, the transportation scale of China's civil aviation industry has grown rapidly. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, despite the increasing downward pressure of the domestic economy, the civil aviation sector maintained a relatively fast growth rate. From 2015 to 2019, the average annual growth rate of total turnover, passenger and freight transport volume reached 11%, 10.7% and 4.6% respectively. China's scale of air transport has remained the second largest in the world for 15 consecutive years, and the gap to the number one has been narrowing year by year. This year, when the COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact on global civil aviation, China lead the world in having hit bottom and then rebounded. In September, the total turnover, passenger and freight transport volume recovered to 76.3%, 87.5%, 96.4% respectively of the same period last year. Total turnover of domestic air transport and passenger volume recovered to 96.9% and 98% respectively compared to the same period last year.
Second, accessibility to the airline network has greatly improved. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has taken hub construction as a driving force, actively serving national strategies, supporting local economic and social development, guiding airline companies to optimize their network layouts, and constantly improving the airline network. Up to 2019, there were 234 domestic cities served by regular services and 4,568 domestic air routes (including 111 involving Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan); there were 167 cities in 65 foreign countries served by regular flights, and 953 international air routes. China has signed bilateral air transport agreements with 127 countries and regions. It has also signed bilateral inter-governmental air transport agreements with 96 countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and maintained passenger and cargo flights at a regular basis with 54 of them.
Third, the safety level of the industry continues to lead the world. China's civil aviation industry adheres to the bottom line of safety, and has zero tolerance for potential safety risks. It has focused on the grassroots, laid the foundation and practiced the basic skills for safe operations. Through further improving our work style by concentrating on the principles of "reverence for life, rules and responsibilities", the safety governance capability of the whole industry has been greatly enhanced. By the end of September this year, the country had achieved 121 consecutive months of safe flight, total 86.69 million hours of flight time. It has also ensured air defense safety for 18 consecutive years. As for the five-year rolling value of major accident rate per million flight hours of transport aviation, China's civil aviation is 0, while the world average is 0.088. That has enabled the safety level of our civil aviation sector to remain at the forefront of the world.