The mainland will push ahead with airport expansion, even though more than 70 per cent of its 182 existing airports lost nearly two billion yuan (HK$2.43 billion) among them last year.
The total profit from all mainland airports last year came to 4.6 billion yuan, and most of the loss-making ones were small regional airports, Li Jiaxiang, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), told a press conference yesterday.
Li also blamed the losses on a shortage of airports.
He said all 12 small regional airports in Yunnan province were making a profit because of the 'network effect', apparently referring to a comprehensive airport network.
'It's like planting trees. One tree will die, but if you plant more, it will become a forest, and the trees will grow higher and higher,' Li said.
He advocated a focus on airport construction, saying civil aviation had developed rapidly in recent years but infrastructure construction had lagged the broader sector.
The mainland has fewer than 300 airports, including only 182 conventional public airports, with the remainder earmarked for other purposes, ranging from farming to industrial use. It plans to build 82 new airports and expand 101 existing facilities during the 12th five-year plan, which ends in 2015, Li said.