China to buy over 2500 aircraft

Chinese clients will purchase around 2,500 aircraft in the 2011-2015 period, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday, citing the country's top aviation official. Speaking at the two-day 2012 China Civil Aviation Development Forum that opened on Wednesday in Beijing, Li Jiaxiang, the head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, added that the country's total number of civil aircraft will exceed 4,500 by 2015. Li noted the rapid development of China's civil aviation, describing it as still being a "sunrise industry," according to Xinhua. Tony Tyler, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said that China's aviation market is and will remain huge. Tyler predicted that global air passengers will increase by 877 million by 2015 compared to 2010, and that around 25 percent of the new passengers will come from China. China currently transports the seventh-largest number of air passengers in the world, and the fourth-largest number of airborne goods.