During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), China's civil aviation sector invested a total of 630 billion yuan (about 90.21 billion U.S. dollars) in fixed assets, with around 120 billion yuan (about 17.18 billion U.S. dollars) invested in 2025 alone, according to data released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China on Tuesday.

In 2025, China completed major airport upgrades in megacities such as Guangzhou and Chongqing, opened brand-new airports in smaller cities including Lishui, Ruijin and the ethnic-minority autonomous county of Barkol, and brought the first phase of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei to Chengdu-Chongqing main air corridor into service.

Airspace in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was further optimized, while the Beijing-Xinjiang corridor, the northern extension of the Guangzhou-Lanzhou corridor, and the M503 route's W121 connecting link were all commissioned, according to the Administration.

"In 2025, China added more than 12,000 kilometers air routes, bringing the total mileage to more than 270,000 kilometers. Around 2.4 million flights used temporary routes, shortening flight distances by about 63.7 million kilometers. China significantly improved air traffic control capabilities in 2025," said Song Zhiyong, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Over the past five years, China added 49 runways, 2,232 aircraft stands and some 6.83 million square meters of terminal space, raising the number of transportation airports to 270 and the total airport capacity to more than 1.8 billion passengers.

According to the Administration, the number of transport aircraft increased by 671 during the five years, bringing the total to 4,574 planes.