BEIJING (Reuters) – China will focus between 2023 and 2025 on developing domestic flights and re-establishing international air travel, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said on Friday, on the occasion of the publication of a new development plan for the sector heavily hit by the pandemic.
Chinese domestic air traffic is penalized by the zero tolerance policy adopted by the country to contain outbreaks of infection. This policy has intensified in the run-up to the Beijing Winter Olympics and the start of the Lunar New Year travel season.
Due to the pandemic, this new five-year development plan for the period from 2021 to 2025 has been divided into two parts, explained the CAAC.
Over the period 2021-2022, China will consolidate its efforts in the control and prevention of COVID-19, while focusing on reforms and specifying more support measures, which are supposed to result in “development momentum” later. .
The period from 2023 to 2025 will be dedicated to growth, the CAAC said.
“The focus will be on expanding the domestic market, re-establishing the international market, releasing the impact of reforms and improving the level of openness (to the world),” she said.
According to the CAAC, China wants to have more than 270 civilian airports by 2025, against 241 airports counted at the end of 2020.
It also aims to reduce its CO2 emissions per tonne-kilometer to 0.853 grams by 2025, compared to 0.948 grams in 2020.
(Report Stella Qiu and Ryan Woo; French version Dina Kartit, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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