"China in mad rush to build more airports"

Sunday, October 9, 2005

China in mad rush to build more airports
BY PETER HARMSEN
India - Economic Times


BEIJING - In peak periods such as this week's National Day holiday, when a
fully loaded passenger jet lands or takes off at the Beijing Capital
International Airport every minute, the strain begins to show. 

The airport has been a work in progress for most of the past decade, giving
it the capability now to handle 35 million passengers a year, but it is
still not enough, and it is involved in yet another expansion project. A
third passenger terminal is being built, and once it stands ready in 2007,
one year ahead of the Olympics, it will be able to process up to 60 million
passengers annually, or the entire population of France. 

"By that time, our airport will be among the world's 10 largest," said Ma
Ruzhuang, a spokesman for the airport. 

"We want to build a first-class international airport as sophisticated as
any in the world." It is not many years ago that China was notorious for its
run-down airports, whose surly staff and unhygienic toilets were more third
world than first class. But now, China has become as ambitious about its
airports as about most of its other endeavours, renovating and building at a
frantic pace, and with seeming disregard of the cost. So far much of the
expansion has taken place along its prosperous eastern seaboard, with the
Baiyun International Airport, near south China's Guangzhou city, a major a
case in point. 

Vast ongoing expansion work means that by 2010 it will have annual capacity
of 80 million passengers, up from 25 million now, making it a fierce
competitor for Chek Lap Kok airport in nearby Hong Kong. Meanwhile, a second
terminal is being built at Shanghai's Pudong airport, with four terminals
the ultimate goal. But western China, which previously has been limited by
lack of economic development, is gradually catching up. 

The Xi'an Xianyang International Airport in north-western Shaanxi province
plans to spend 6.2 billion yuan ($765 mn) on a new runway and a third
terminal to be operational in 2011. Many other smaller airports are also
earmarked for renovations and expansion. Zhao Minhe, director of civil
aviation affairs at the China International Engineering Consulting Corp,
forecasts a drastic increase in spending on airports in the years ahead. In
the first half of this decade, China committed about 70 billion yuan ($8.6
bn) for new airports, but in the second half that will rise to 150 billion
yuan ($18.5 bn), he estimates. 

"We still need to build new airports and renovate existing ones," he said.
"In the near future, growth in passenger numbers is bound to be rapid." In
2004, China's airports handled 240 million passengers, up 38.8 per cent from
the previous year, and 5.5 million tonnes of cargo, up 22.3 per cent
year-on-year, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China
(CAAC). 

The CAAC estimates that by 2010 there will be an annual passenger volume of
500 million people through China's airports and a cargo of over 10 million
tonnes. By 2020, annual passenger volumes will reach 1.4 billion, while
cargo will reach 30 million tonnes, according to CAAC data quoted in the
state-run media. These are huge figures, and some government officials have
started worrying if China will be able to keep up with demand, despite plans
calling for the number of airports to rise from currently 133 to 190 in
2010, and 230 by 2020. 

Qin Zhanggao, deputy director general of the CAAC's department for airports,
in early September listed a series of concerns for the future. They include
how to further expand the airports and their handling capacity, improve
airport facilities, as well as upgrade the quality of their management and
services. 

"Although we've adopted many measures to improve the infrastructure through
intensive investment and speeding up the pace of construction, it still does
not meet actual demand of the fast growing civil aviation industry," Qin
said. "The infrastructure, the management and the quality of human resources
cannot meet the demand of fast development of air transport," he said. 

If there is one loser in China's rush to build more airports, it could be
security. Qin said earlier this year he lacked confidence in China's airport
safety record, which he blamed for up to 80 percent of the nation's air
accidents. "I'm not confident about the safety situation of the nation's
airports, especially considering the nation's booming civil aviation
industry," Qin was quoted as saying by the China Daily in April.


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