The Civil Aviation Administration of China has reaffirmed its intention to strengthen the growth of five hub airports including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, to boost transcontinental and regional air links.
The move, outlined at an airport planning and development conference in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province, underwrites a plan put forward by the aviation regulator in 2008.
At the conference, CAAC head Li Jiaxiang also reiterated plans to expand the number of mainland airports from 175 to 230 by 2015.
This comes as Beijing became the world's second busiest airport last year, handling 73.9 million passengers, up 13 per cent year on year. By comparison, Guangzhou was placed 19th in the world by airport industry lobby group, Airports Council International, after handling 40.9 million travellers, up 10.6 per cent compared with 2009. Shanghai was ranked 20th with 40.6 million passengers, a 27.2 per cent year-on-year increase.
The three airports, together with Shenzhen, are among the world's top 30 busiest cargo airports.
Under the CAAC's plan, Beijing Capital Airport will lead the northern airport group, while Shanghai will head the east airport group. Guangzhou Baiyun international airport will be the hub airport for central China, while Chengdu and Xian will be hub airports for the southwest and northwest of the country.
Beijing is expected to help feed air traffic to northern cities including Tianjin and Shenyang and Harbin.