China's civil aviation industry sees rapid flight hours growth

BEIJING - China's civil aviation industry witnessed an average growth of 11.2 percent in flight hours over the past five years, data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) showed Tuesday.

Annual flying time has soared to 10.5 million hours, up from 6.19 million hours, over the past five years, with total number of civil planes increasing to 3,177 from 1,922, said Tang Weibin, an official with the CAAC.

By the end of 2016, the transport volume of passengers and goods by civil flights has surged to 1.53 times and 1.23 times, respectively, that of 2012, according to Ji Yuan, another CAAC official.

Regular air routes in China reached 3,794 by the end of last year, 54.4 percent higher than 2012.

From August 2010 to the end of last month, China's civil aviation industry's total safe flying time has accumulated to over 54 million hours, with no casualty registered, the best air traffic safety records by far.

China has had the world's second largest civil aviation industry in terms of air transport scale for 12 consecutive years, after the United States, said Ji.