Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta has been the busiest airport in the world since the year 1998. This is stipulated to change by the time this year ends as Beijing Capital International will take over the title.
Beijing's perch top rankings do not only give the airport bragging rights but also gives a clear indication that China is rapidly ascending in the air travel industry. The country will experience a growing demand for fresh pilots. During the next ten years, a fifth of commercial jets developed by U.S. based Boeing will have China as their destination.
According to International Air Transport Association (IATA), China has already achieved the second largest position in the aviation industry with a number exceeding 300 million passengers. Its growth rate is very high.
The first position in the air travel market is taken by USA which receives about 806 million passengers a year as per 2011 statistics. In two decades, industry analysts predict that the States will be eclipsed by China. The U.S. airlines are shifting their attention to China since there is evident profit and growth.
Some analysts are of the opinion that it might take more time for Beijing to overtake Atlanta. It might take an estimated period of 3-5 years on average.
The increase in air travel is not only experienced in China but also in some parts of Latin America, Africa and the whole of Asia especially in Indonesia and India. According to IATA, the Asia-Pacific region is currently the leading air travel market in the globe.
The economy of China is currently second largest globally and in the whole population of 1.3 billion there is increased number of middle class travelers. The expected growth rates are in international travelers but of more significance are the travelers within China's borders or domestic passengers.
The explosion is highly determined by the political environment and the updates in the air traffic control system. There is also another challenge – the limited landing slots in China which hinder growth in foreign airline flights.
However the country has been working under pressure and building airports. This can be confirmed by the fact that between the year 2008 and the year 2012, the Airport-Council-International built around twenty four commercial airports in China. To add to the growing infrastructure, the government plans to build an airport with about six runways near Daxing community. This could be opened in 2017 and could handle around seventy five million seats twelve years from now.
China will have high demand for pilots as well as air planes. It is estimated to require around 5260 new air planes over the next two decades. The number is exclusive of old replacements. China may import planes but it is in the initial stages of building an aircraft (C919) that would relatively resemble 737 workhorse jet of the Boeing Company. It would also resemble AirbusA320.