Beijing is considering buying out the nation's small airports or increasing subsidies to those that handle fewer than 500,000 passengers a year to help cut economic disparities between western and eastern China.
'One of the main challenges curbing the development of Chinese airports is the uneven passenger distributions,' Shao Daojie, a deputy director-general at the General Administration of Civil Aviation, said yesterday on the sidelines of the Asian Aerospace conference in Hong Kong.
The aviation industry accounts for about 33 per cent of global trade, according to Andrew Herdman, the director-general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines. Airports serve a crucial role in the economic development of a nation and region.
'We are rethinking the nature of an airport, whether it is a utility or a business,' Mr Shao said. 'There is still some debate in China.'
He said Beijing tended to eye airports as utilities.
On average, the central government owns about a one-third share in most small airports, with local governments and private entities controlling the rest. Increasing government subsidies to small airports or buying them outright could help small airports survive, Mr Shao said.