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a r t i c l e in fo abstract
Available online 15 September 2009 The global air transport has been undergoing wings of change in the past 30 years as a result of
Keywords: deregulation and liberalisation. During this period, the air transport in China has also been undergoing
China signicant transformation and rapid growth following the reform and opening up policy of China since
Air transport policy 1978, the same year when the USA enacted the Airline Deregulation Act. Although China has become the
Civil aviation worlds second largest air transport system since 2006, few studies have analyzed the growth pattern
Airport development plan and policy evolution of this important market. This paper critically reviews the development of the air
Air trafc transport policy of China and examines the challenges in the 21st Century. Such an investigation leads
Liberalisation to the following conclusions: (A) the reform of Chinas civil aviation has been based on the national
Reform and opening up
policy in socialist market economy as well as the liberalisation of air transport; (B) the substantial
growth in the last three decades has been driven by economic growth as well as the transformation of
Chinas transport industry. (C) In order to sustain the rapid and continuous development in civil
aviation, China should continue to implement scientic management and development, deepen the
reform and opening up and continue liberalisation.
& 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
0967-070X/$ - see front matter & 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.tranpol.2009.08.007
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216 W.M. Liu, M.K.R. Luk / Transport Policy 16 (2009) 215223
of Chinas air transport policy can be classied into three phases: and
J Consolidate airlines to form three major airlines, Air China, China Southern
Phase one: owned and controlled totally by government and slow
and China Eastern
development; Phase two: Reform and open-door policy and rapid
growth; Phase three: Deepen reform, enhance the open-door In 2001, the 10th Five-Year Plan (20012005) for civil aviation
policy and accelerated development. The key milestones are J To separate the administration of SOE from government and decentralise
highlighted in Table 1. The scope and scale of the civil aviation airport management to local authorities from CAAC; and
reform in 2002 was the largest in China in terms of both breadth J Corporatisation of the three major airlines
and depth since the inception of reform and opening up. It has
initially established a new management and operational system
based on socialist market economy. The overall objectives and iii. Third phase: 20032020
principle of such policy change are to enable the state-owned Deepen reform, enhance the open-door policy and accelerate development
aviation enterprises such as airlines to privatise and operate In 2003, China, at ICAOs Fifth World Air Transport Conference, agreed to
under prudent commercial principle, to support the overall positively, progressively, orderly and safely to facilitate liberalisation of air
transportation.
economic growth and anticipated demand for air transport and
In 2004, China became a council member of ICAO
to enhance service quality (State Development and Reform In 2004, CAAC implemented more liberalised air services agreements
Council, 2002). In 2006, the 11th Five-Year Plan for Civil Aviation
Over the years, China has also been actively developing the J Fast growth in air transport and greater improvement in service quality
J Increase in general aviation and better structure
bilateral air service agreements with other countries, to facilitate
J Improve organisational and regulatory system
regional air transport collaboration and further the opening up of J Further modernise air trafc management system
the air transport market to the world. It also emphasises the J Comprehensive application of IT technology
development needs of west China, northeast China and central J Alleviate the shortage of professionals for pilots, crews, air trafc
China to facilitate their economic and social development as well management, maintenance etc
J Develop a new generation of air transport system
as the construction of the hub airports for meeting the anticipated
needs of liberalising international air services. By the end of 2007,
In 2008, CAAC issued Chinas Civil Aviation Airport Development Plan 2020
China has signed air services agreements with 110 countries. J Chinas GDP to quadruple that of 2005 with an annual average growth rate
Following the trend of liberalisation, China would liberalise its air of 7.2%
transport positively, progressively and orderly. J Annual average growth rate of 11% during 20102020
The Reform and Opening up policy, and Chinas phenomenal
economic growth and globalization process, have led to burgeon- In 2008, CAAC and State Postal Bureau are merged into the new Ministry of
Transport.
ing growth of her air transport industry. The economy of China has
been experiencing compound annual growth of over 9% in GDP
and the per capita GDP compound annual growth of more than 8% Source: Liu (2008); International Culture Publishing House (1992); State Develop-
in the past 30 years while the compound annual growth in total ment and Reform Council (1992); The Central Peoples Government of the Peoples
revenue tonne-kilometres, number of air passengers and air Republic of China (2005); CAAC (2006); CAAC (2008b); ICAO (2003); Chinas
Academy of Social Science (1989).
cargo and mail are 18%, 16.3% and 15.3%, respectively, as shown
in Table 2. The trend of total revenue tonne-kilometres of all
airports in mainland China is shown in Fig. 1. The growth rate of
Chinas air transport was three times that of the world and its The 11th Five-Year Plan of Chinas Civil Aviation Develop-
ranking in air trafc has surged from the 37th position in 1978 to ment is to facilitate the development of a new generation of air
5th in 2002 among ICAO contracted states and is 2nd since 2006. transport system and the key performance indicators are
However, the air transport development in terms of airlines and summarised in Table 4. In December 2007, the State Council of
airports in China as shown in Table 3 are considered China approved Chinas Civil Aviation Airports Development Plan
underdeveloped given its vast geography and large population 2020 which outlines the development plan of civil aviation
when compared with the USA. airports in China up to 2020 (CAAC, 2008a, b).
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W.M. Liu, M.K.R. Luk / Transport Policy 16 (2009) 215223 217
Table 2
Air trafc statistics of China 19502007.
Year 1950 1978 1980 2002 2007* Growth over 1978 Compound annual
growth (%)
No. of air passengers (000 passengers) 10 2310 3430 85,940 185,190 80.2 times 16.3
Air cargo and mail (tonnes) 767 63,815 88,866 2.02 million 3.95 million 61.9 times 15.3
Total revenue Tonne-kilometres (million tonne-km) 1.57 298.66 429.35 16,492.66 36,100 120.9 times 18
40,000 River Delta, Pan-Pearl River Delta, Pan Bohai and Cheng Yu
Economic area.
35,000
The key international hubs including Beijing, Shanghai,
30,000 Guangzhou and Hong Kong have been established while airports
million tonnes-kme
Table 3
3.1. Comprehensive transport development plan and increasing
Comparison of demographics between China and the USA. modal competition
Items USA (2000) China (2007) Transport has in hitherto been a key engine to drive economic
Area (million km2) 9.37 9.6
growth. To facilitate both economic and social development, China
Population (billion) 0.22 1.3 has been promoting the development of comprehensive transpor-
Total no. of airports (2000) 19,281 142 tation system since the 10th Five-Year Plan (20012005). There
No. of public airports 5317 has been signicant progress in the development of infrastructure
No. of airports with scheduled ights 651
for various transport modes and their service quality. The
Density (no. of airports with scheduled ights 0.69 0.148
per 10,000 km2) comprehensive transportation system has entered the stage for
coordinated development and service enhancement and the
Source: Liu, 2008. development of a modern integrated transportation system to
meet the forecast demand under the 11th Five-Year Plan as shown
As reected in the development of the US air transport policy in Table 5.
and regulation, it is reviewed that deregulation does not imply The total port cargo throughput and container throughput in
that all aspects of air transport can be free from government China are ranked Worlds No. 1 for four consecutive years. Over
control. It is reviewed that deregulation is applied to the area that 90% of Chinas export depends on sea transport. With the increase
can be driven by the market and the Government would not need in port capacity, increase in the capacity of ocean-going vessels,
to intervene. On the other hand, for the area that cannot be driven their shorter lead time and the improvement in supply chain
by the market such as international bilateral agreements, management, some air commodities could be shifted to sea
domestic commuter air services, aviation safety and security, air transport as a result of its improved reliability and lower cost.
trafc control and anti-trust regulation, it is necessary for the Although China now ranks No. 2 in air transport and has
Government to exercise its impartial administrative role and developed a total of 1400 scheduled air routes serving 61% of the
apply necessary regulatory control for the benet of the nation national population, there is still signicant gap in meeting the
and customers. economic needs and to facilitate social development and enhance
the quality of life. The proportion of air transport is relatively
small when compared to other modes of transport for both
3. Challenges for air transport development in China passenger and cargo as depicted in Table 5. In view of the national
policy to strengthen the development of railway and highways, it
Following 30 years of reform and opening up, the airport is inevitable that the domestic air transport will encounter
system in China has started to take shape since the turn of the competition from high-speed surface transport:
century, with gradual increase in density of the airports, scale and
degree of modernization. The development of civil aviation is Road transport has the advantage for intercity journey within
based on Chinas Strategic Economic Development Plan which is 500 km while rail transport will have the advantage for
to facilitate development in west China and Hainan province; and intercity journey within 5001000 km. Following the implemen-
to revitalise the industrial region in north-east China in addition tation of highways and acceleration of railway, it is inevitable that
to the developing economic zones in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl air transport for short-haul trips has been withdrawn from the
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218 W.M. Liu, M.K.R. Luk / Transport Policy 16 (2009) 215223
Table 4
Key development indicators of the 11th Five-Year Plan of Chinas civil aviation.
Development scale Total revenue tonne-kilometres (100 million tonne-km) 261 500 14
Total no. of passengers (100 million persons) 1.38 2.7 14.5
Total cargo and mail (000 tonnes) 3070 5700 13
General aviation (10,000 h) 8.5 14 10
Proportion of air passengers of all transport modes (%) 11.8 17.8
Table 5
Chinas 11th Five-Year Plan transportation demand forecast.
Mode Unit 2005 2010 Growth rate (%) 2005 Modal 2010 Modal
distribution (%) distribution (%)
Total cargo revenue tonne-kilometre 100 million tonnes-km 80,257 105,154 5.6
Railway 100 million tonnes-km 20,726 27,000 5.4 25.8 25.7
Road 100 million tonnes-km 8693 12,000 6.7 10.8 11.4
Sea 100 million tonnes-km 49,672 56,000 5.8 61.9 53.3
Air 100 million tonnes-km 78.9 154 14.3 0.1 0.1
Source: State Development and Reform Commission, The Peoples Republic of China, 2007, Integrated Transport, 12th Edition.
market including the Shenzhen-Guangzhou, Chongqing-Chengdu airport infrastructure and air services are not adequate to meet
and Dalian-Shenyang routes. (Zhang, 2007) the anticipated demand. Although liberalisation has facilitated
In view of the construction of high-speed railways, for more international services and carriers, the network coverage of
example, the Beijing-Shanghai route, Guangzhou-Changsha, international services and domestic services are yet to be
Changsha-Wuhan, Wuhan-Zhengzhou, Guangzhou-south, expanded to meet increasing demand. The increase in ight
Shenzhen-Xiamen, the competition between the railway and movements also demands rationalization and optimisation of
the air transport will be intensied. For instance, the travelling airspace and air trafc management for civil aviation and the
time of the intercity service via the new Beijing-Shanghai high- division of labour between the military and civil aviation.
speed railway (at 300 km/h) will be about 5 h while the total In 2007, the total passenger trafc of all mainland airports,
travelling time including ight time, airport processing time excluding the Hong Kong and Macau airports, have increased
and ground transportation time to airport is about 4.5 h by air. 16.8% to 388.6 billion passengers, where 35.1% was contributed by
In addition, the relatively lower rail cost will attract more the three main airports in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The
passengers to choose the rail transport. To compete with the distribution of passenger trafc by region is 17.1%, 5.6%, 30.3%,
railway on short-medium haul passengers, Air China starts to 25.5%, 15.1% and 6.3% for north China, north-east China, east
create the Beijing-Shanghai Air Express and the Jing-Rong China, south China, southwest and the northwest, respectively.
Air Express. (Zhang, 2007) The total cargo and mail throughput handled by all Chinese
airports excluding Hong Kong and Macau airport, has increased
14.3% to 8.61 million tonnes where 58.8% was contributed by
3.2. Insufcient airports, airspace capacity and air services
Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou airport. The distribution of
Despite the substantial expansion of existing airports and cargo trafc by region is 18.7%, 3.6%, 45.8%, 20.1%, 9% and 2.8% for
development of new airports and increases in air services, the north China, north-east China, east China, south China, southwest
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W.M. Liu, M.K.R. Luk / Transport Policy 16 (2009) 215223 219
and the northwest, respectively. It is revealed that the develop- international carriers provide similar weekly air services as the
ment of air transport in China is imbalanced, especially for the Chinese carriers. This is because Chinese airlines do not have
central and western regions, which are lagging behind. enough capacity in terms of eets and ight crew. For a successful
international air services, the Chinese carriers would also need to
3.3. Management gap between Chinas civil aviation enterprises and establish comparable sales network and marketing at the
international practices destination country to effectively increase clientele to increase
the load factors.
It is reviewed that the development of the Chinese civil
aviation enterprises are not compatible with the burgeoning
4. Policy towards sustainable and harmonious3 development
growth of air transport and there is gap in management between
Chinas civil aviation enterprises and international practices.
Following the successful reform in the past 30 years, the
Chinese government is determined to continue the liberalisation
It is not apparent that the developments at various airports
and deregulation initiatives in the air transport industry, as
which were implemented ahead of demand have brought
endorsed in the 17th National Congress of the CPC4 in 2008. In
signicant impacts to the regional economic and social
particular, it is reviewed that the following policy would be
development. The imbalanced air transport system under-
essential for sustainable and harmonious development in air
mines the function of air transport as a driver to facilitate
transport.
economic development and integration of society.
The relatively low customer satisfaction level in air transport is
mainly due to imperfect air service network, unreasonable 4.1. To accelerate the reform of civil aviation administrative system
route structure, inconvenient transfer of ights, low ight
frequency and delay of ights. It is to establish a service-oriented government which aims at
The application and innovative research, and development in promoting scientic development, protecting and enhancing the
scientic technology in civil aviation such as air trafc livelihood of the people, strengthening the integration of depart-
management and control, maintenance and marketing still ments, and exploring the reorganization and consolidation of
lag behind the developed countries. The related regulatory government departments. On February 27, 2008, the 2nd Plenary
departments and the enterprises in the air transport industry Meeting of the 17th Central Committee of the CPC, the On the
would need to enhance the calibre of their workforce in Views of Deepening the Reform of the Administrative system and
modern public administration and management in particular the State Councils Institutional Reform Plan were endorsed and
in aviation safety and security, engineering design and were enacted at the 1st Session of the 11th National Peoples
management of aviation facilities, legal, nancial and scientic Congress convened on March 5, 2008. This signicant reform has
management methodology to optimise the utilisation of scarce commenced, including the establishment of the new Ministry of
resources. This is to ensure its sustainable development and Transport (MOT), replacing the original Ministry of Communica-
compliance with both national and international conventions. tions and the Civil Aviation Administration of China. The new set
There is signicant gap in human resources to meet the up of the Civil Aviation Administration of China and State Post
anticipated demand and development plan of civil aviation in Bureau are under the MOT. The MOT is to oversee the road, air and
China where a total of over 37,300 and 70,500 civil aviation sea transport except railway5 to ensure better coordination among
personnel (pilots, aircraft maintenance and air trafc con- different transport modes so as to facilitate integrated transporta-
trollers) will be required in 20062010 and 20112015, tion planning, development, management and more effective
respectively, as highlighted in Table 6. Moreover, it is also emergency management in response to disasters.
necessary to nurture the professionals as well as senior and The restructure of MOT has horizontally merged the depart-
middle management in all aspects of the civil aviation industry ments with similar role and responsibility and has thus broadened
to meet the development needs. the scope of the administration. The objective of the reorganiza-
tion is to develop a more efcient and service-oriented organiza-
Although the liberalisation of air services and further opening tion; to optimise resource allocation according to market demand
up to the world are progressing in China, the development of its and strengthen the enterprises and their competitiveness. At the
airline industry has not been progressing as well and is facing same time, it is to strengthen and enhance macro economy
erce competition from the foreign airlines. The substantial gaps control, optimise transportation planning, maximize the overall
in management level and rm size between Chinas civil aviation benets and efciency, and facilitate the development of an
enterprises and international competitors have been posing major integrated transport system for all transport modes that is hassle
challenges for the liberalisation process. As demonstrated by the free, efcient and safe.
distribution of weekly international ights by international and
Chinese carriers at the three key international hubs in Fig. 2, 4.2. New legislation to enhance the development of socialist market
economy and to sustain development of airlines
* PVG: Shanghai Pudong International Airport; * PVG: Shanghai Pudong International Airport;
BCIA: Beijing Capital Internatioanl Airport; BCIA: Beijing Capital Internatioanl Airport;
CAN: Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport CAN: Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport
* Source: 2007 OAG data on scheduled flights of the week 3-9 Dec 2007 * Source: 2007 OAG data on scheduled flights of the week 3-9 Dec 2007
* Source: 2007 OAG data on scheduled flights of the week 3-9 Dec 2007
Fig. 2. Distribution of 2007 weekly scheduled ight movements at the three key international hubs. *Source: 2007 OAG data on scheduled ights of the week
December 39, 2007.
socialist market economy and facilitate the development of airport development so as to facilitate the local economic and
airlines, the Government has enacted two legislations. On March social development. However, majority of the airports require
16, 2007, the Property Law6 was enacted and has been effective nancial support and subsidies from the Government. It is
since October 1 2007. On August 30, 2007, the Anti-Monopoly reviewed that there are over 90 small airports with annual air
Law7 was enacted and would be effective from August 1, 2008. passenger trafc below 500,000 in China, the market share of
Liberalisation has intensied the competition of airlines. Under passenger trafc accounts for only 3.3% of the total passenger
the new Anti-Monopoly Law, the mechanism for market entry trafc in China. Many of these airports are losing money and hence
and exit of airlines is established. The airlines could increase its these airports have difculty to undergo expansion. In recent
market share through merger and acquisition, reorganization, years, the CAAC has closely worked with the local governments to
joint venture and alliance. The new law is to ensure that airlines actively support the local authority to undertake development in
would not form mega enterprise that might undermine competi- civil aviation business and to facilitate the development of the civil
tion. It is recognised that the development of the airlines will be aviation industry together. On February 22, 2002, the CAAC issued
dependent on the management of the enterprises including a CAAC notice Document No. 34 which clearly dened the airport
business development, nancial management, revenue manage- infrastructure as public utility and formulated ten policy measures
ment and cost control as well as engineering, safety and quality to guide and facilitate the development of airports, especially for
management to ensure effective design and management of small airports. On January 23, 2007, the CAAC convened a small
resilient facilities and systems. Chinas air transport industry is airport management forum to promote the Proposals on Further
to continue to establish a modernized enterprise system, meet the Development of Small Airports.
requirements based on market driven economy, implement low- To implement the localization of airport management, it is
cost development strategy, reform in air tariff mechanism, necessary to dene the function and position of the airports. The
enhance service quality, establish its own branding, develop local government should incorporate the airport development in
innovative marketing strategy and enhance market competitive- its regional economic development plan. The airport management
ness both locally and internationally. will be managed by the local authority and administered by the
CAAC. The airport management would be standardized, adopt the
franchise operation as appropriate, ensure airport security and
4.3. To facilitate airport infrastructure development and safety, and operate the airport in an orderly and effective manner.
decentralization of airport management to local authority To address the inadequate infrastructure problems, the Chinese
government has approved the Chinas Civil Aviation Airport
In 2002, the State Council of China endorsed the Proposal to Development Plan 2020 on 25 January 2008 (CAAC, 2008b),
Reform Civil Aviation Administration System to decentralize the which has taken into account the overall social and economic
airport management to local authority. Its objective was to development strategy, market demand, regional economic and
motivate the participation of local authority in strengthening geography, interconnectivity with other modes of transport,
coordination among various civil aviation and related enterprises,
6
as well as the integrated principles of conservation of land, energy
The Property Law introduces a wide range of specic improvements for the
and other resources as well as the ecological environment. By
private sector and, for the rst time, recognises that an individuals private
property rights are protected to the same level as that afforded to collective and 2020, the total number of Chinas civil aviation airports will be
State property rights. It can be viewed as a symbolic step by the Government increased by 97 to a total of 244 which would be set up under ve
towards creating an open market economy. It also contains a number of specic regions: north, east, south, southwest and northwest China. Upon
improvements that can be seen as steps forward in moving Chinas underlying
full implementation, over 80% of the county-level administrative
legal framework closer to a modern, functioning, market economy (http://www.
aar.com.au/pubs/asia/foch8jun07.htm#Concl).
units within 100 km or 1.5 h ground travelling time can have
7
Chinese anti-monopoly law (AML) was enacted on August 30, 2007, which access to air services. The 2020 airport development plan will be
is the rst comprehensive competition law in Chinas history. The Chinese AML able to serve 82% of Chinas population, representing 96% of GDP.
was drafted within the context of three principal competition concerns: regional In other words, the plan will serve all the provincial cities, special
monopolies (local protection); sectoral monopolies by Chinese rms, including
economic zones, key tourist areas, airports would be linked to
state-owned enterprises (administrative monopoly); and a perception of alleged
abuses of dominant positions by some multinationals. (http://iblsjournal.typepad. medium and small cities. The establishment of hubs and spokes
com/illinois_business_law_soc/2007/11/chinese-anti-mo.html). airports and commuter airports would strengthen the overall
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W.M. Liu, M.K.R. Luk / Transport Policy 16 (2009) 215223 221
4.5. To continue opening up to facilitate reform and development aircraft on-time performance to be at least 85% and the average
delay to be within 0.5 h;
Following a study9 on the opening up to the world and respect and ensure aviation consumer protection and their
safeguard national economic security in September 2007, the rights in accordance with the law;
Chinese government10 has reinforced that China is to focus on improvement in environmental management and protection to
opening up to devise strategies in accordance with the interna- develop environmentally friendly airports; and
tional developments and changes. It has been proven that by strengthen contingency management in managing ad hoc
opening to the outside world, China can optimise the domestic crisis including aviation security matters.
and international markets and resources. In accordance with the
spirit above, Chinas civil aviation would continue the reform to Secondly, it is necessary to simplify the process for boarding
facilitate development and progressive liberalisation of the and alighting passengers. Thirdly, it is necessary to improve the
international air transport market and steadily expand interna- ground handling interfaces and access facilities to minimize any
tional bilateral air services agreements. China stated that it would hassles and to streamline the ground handling process.
actively participate in ICAOs multilateral affairs in devising the To further enhance aviation market economy, it would be
ICAO standards and guidelines so that Chinas civil aviation can prudent to further reform the air transport pricing mechanism to
play a constructive role in the ICAO, to continue to use bilateral encourage fair market competition in both pricing and service
cooperation and exchange mechanism, and improve the level of quality, and have an effective system to protect the legitimate rights
opening up and the quality of external cooperation. and interests of consumers. Apart from putting customers rst, it is
also paramount for all aviation enterprises to have effective people
management system to manage and develop their staff as well as to
5. Government plan for the future: to balance speed and build up the competitive Chinese brand in air transport.
quality in the reform process
In 2007, the Chinese Government has approved at the 17th 5.3. To persist on a comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable yet
National Peoples Congress to incorporate the concept of scientic fast development for civil aviation
development, with the primary objective to achieve people-
oriented development, and to have a balanced approach on It is also reviewed that the integrated transport (including all
comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development. The transport modes road, rail, air and sea), regional planning and
policy objectives can be summarized as follows. environment approach for planning and development of airports
is necessary to facilitate the sustainable development of economy
and both international and domestic air transport. The Chinese
5.1. To ensure that the development of civil aviation are in line with
government decided that the civil aviation authorities and air
national economy and social developments
transport enterprises should have changing roles and functions in
the new era. This is to facilitate the optimisation of resource
It is recognised that the development of civil aviation is the
allocation based on the market. While necessary macroeconomic
foundation of the national economy and a leading industry. It
regulation and control are to be kept in accordance with
should be in line with the development of the national economy
Administrative License Law and Civil Aviation Law (Adminis-
and social development and could strategically and appropriately
trative Licence Law, 2003), the approval process and government
be undertaken ahead of demand to facilitate national economic
control are to be streamlined.
and social development. Chinas air transport continues to
Moreover, in accordance with the Anti-Monopoly Law and
develop and strives to narrow the gap in accordance with its
the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, it is prima facie to establish a
11th Five-Year Plan on civil aviation and the Chinas Civil Aviation
good market mechanism for air transport, to standardize the
Airport Development Plan 2020.
market entry and exit mechanism of airlines, to improve the
administration system to facilitate the localisation of airport
5.2. To adhere to the people-oriented principle to effectively management and to clarify that the airport infrastructure is a
improve the quality of air transport services public utility to promote local economic development, and
to optimise the utilisation of airspace so as to facilitate the
In accordance with the Governments policy, endorsed at the economic development and the development of seamless air
17th National Peoples Congress in October 2007, it is recom- trafc ow.
mended that it is strategic to implement a harmonious air Chinas aviation industry has been undergoing phenomenal
transport system based on the People-Oriented principle to growth in the last three decades. However, few studies have been
promote service quality of the air transport system. Firstly, the devoted to this important market. This paper reviews the growth
performance targets for air transport by 2020 including but not pattern and policy evolution in the Chinese market. While
limited to the following should be implemented: economic growth has been a major driving factor, our investiga-
tion revealed that industry policy reforms have played a critical
proportion of passenger revenue tonne-kilometre by air to be role over the years. While many challenges remained to be
at least 20% among all transport mode; addressed, our review of the related government policy indicated
aviation safety incident to be no more than 0.29 per million that the Chinese government would continue its reform policy,
ight movement by 2010 and no more than 0.15 per million with aims to achieve comprehensive and coordinated progress,
ight movement by 2020; with a balance between speed and quality.
customer satisfaction to exceed 90%;
9
Acknowledgement
The study was conducted by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central
Committee in September 2007, Hu Jintao emphasized that it was the fundamental
national policy to continue the opening up to the outside world. The authors would like to thank Dr. Xiaowen Fu (The Hong
10
Third Plenum of the 11th National Party Congress in 2008. Kong Polytechnic University) for his editorial advice and Miss
ARTICLE IN PRESS
W.M. Liu, M.K.R. Luk / Transport Policy 16 (2009) 215223 223
Kathleen Yip for her support in translating the Chinese manu- Hu, J., 2007. The report of 17th Chinese Communist Party National Peoples
script and statistical analysis. Congress, News release, 25th October 2007, available from: /http://cpc.people.
com.cn/BIG5/104019/104099/6429414.htmlS.
International Civil Aviation Organization by ICAO 2008. Review of new CNS/ATM
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