Middle Eastern investors being sought for China airport expansion

The growth in cargo movements is one of the key drivers in the development of a further 45 new airports in China. Speaking at Air Freight Asia 2011, alongside the Asian Aerospace show in Hong Kong, Lui Shaocheng, Director of Policy Research at the Civil Aviation Administration of China, told the audience that the country was aiming at 220 airports to serve the growing demands.

“We need to increase air freight capacity and revitalise handling capacity for large hub airports,” he said. 

Figures from IATA predict China’s air cargo throughput will grow by11.7% a year, from 2.1 million tonnes in 2009 to 3.8 million tonnes in 2014.Lui said air freight volumes  had grown by around 19% last year, after “slower growth rates in 2008 and 2009 during the financial tsunami”. 
 
Volumes at Hong Kong are predicted to reach 5.3 million tonnes in 2014 from 3 million in 2009. 

Lui said attracting new airport freight investment would rely on a combination of state and local state funding and policies designed to appeal to private funding sources. 

Delegates from the UAE were at the presentation