Experts say airport construction, especially projects in the central and eastern regions, should be closely linked with market demand as many airports are showing losses, CBN Daily reported.

Statistics show that during the 12^th Five-Year Plan, there will be 56 new airport construction projects and 91 expansions, with an investment of 425 billion yuan. At present, most airports suffer from losses.

Many provinces are speeding up building new airports. Provinces such as Fujian and Hubei are trying to have airports in every prefecture-level cities.

However, despite the enthusiasm for airport construction, airports, especially small and medium-sized ones, usually suffer from losses.

By the end of 2011, China had 180 airports, of which 135 airports were operating with losses. Among the 135 airports, 87 percent are small and medium-sized airports. The total losses for these airports is 2 billion yuan.

“If the airport is funded by private enterprises, it is bound to pursue returns. So those investors will do more market research. But since it is funded by the government, the government would exaggerate the traffic numbers to launch the project faster. As for profitability of the airport, it’s for the next leadership to consider,” said Chen Yanyan, a professor at Beijing University of Technology.

Experts say that airport construction should be considered with local transportation planning as a whole.

“Aircraft, railway and road transportation all have their own transit areas. The traffic would change when a new kind of transportation is introduced. But now civil aviation and high-speed rail more often do analysis in their own way and pay no attention to traffic transfer between them,” Chen said.

“High-speed rails are mainly distributed in the eastern region and can greatly affect the operation of airports. So building airports in the region must consider the effect of high-speed rails,” said Cao Yunchun, a professor at China Civil Aviation University.

“There will be more high-speed rail lines in the eastern region due to the dense population and economic development. In comparison, the western region is sparsely populated, so it doesn’t pay to build high-speed railways. But it has a certain traffic demand, and small airports would be more suitable for that,” Chen added.

All 16 airport projects approved by the National Development and Reform Commission since last May are in the western region except one, which is a renovation project in Guangzhou.

However, Secretary of Civil Aviation Administration Li Jiaxiang said that we cannot simply look at the profitability of airports, but must consider the utility of the airport for local economic and social development. Small and medium-sized airports cover more than 70 percent of areas in China and contribute billions of yuan to the local GDP.

“The key is how we view the airport. Enterprises do pursue profits, but the airport is not exactly an enterprise. Civilian airport management regulations define the airport as a public infrastructure. So we cannot judge losses at airports from an enterprise view alone,” Cao said.