China plans airport building spree
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The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said Thursday that China will build another 45 airports over the next five years, the Financial Times reports. CAAC head Li Jiaxing said the building program would take the number of airports in the country to 220. He said the government would invest 1,500 billion yuan in the aviation industry in the period up to 2015, but declined to say how much would be spent on airports. Li admitted that 130 of the country's 175 existing airports were in the red, with combined losses of1.68 billion yuan. A potential new market for airports is smaller aircraft, following a November announcement that civilian aircraft are to be allowed to fly in airspace below 4,000m. The decision could prompt a big increase in the use of helicopters and light aircraft.
