China becomes key dynamic force of global civil aviation: IATA director general

BEIJING - China is becoming a key influencer of the global aviation industry, as well as a key dynamic force in powering the global civil aviation growth, said a senior official of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in Beijing.

"We are optimistic about the future of China's civil aviation growth thanks to the constant efforts in planning, infrastructure construction and fleet and market growth," said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA's director general and CEO.

According to IATA's forecast, China will become the world's largest civil aviation market by 2024-2025, and the air passenger volume in the Chinese market is expected to reach 1.6 billion by 2037.

"China's civil aviation industry has gained sustainable growth over decades. It has the most member airlines of IATA, thus we highly value the market here and keep close cooperation with government authorities and industry partners," De Juniac told Xinhua.

Founded in 1945, IATA is a trade association of some 290 airlines from 117 countries and regions, representing about 82 percent of global air traffic.

"China has seen fantastic growth in the civil aviation industry," De Juniac said. Alongside the expanding passenger volume and fleet size, "China has a very strong safety performance. The jet hull loss rate for 100 consecutive months was zero, and China has gained significant progress in on-time flight performance," he said.

By the end of 2018, China's civil aviation has realized a zero-accident record in over 100 months. And the on-time flight in China reached 80.13 percent, according to the latest statistics from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).