China's civil aviation industry revenue reaches $117b in 2017

BEIJING - China's civil aviation industry made operating revenue of 746 billion yuan (about $117 billion) in 2017, said the official statistical bulletin.

The figure is a 15.3-percent increase year-on-year, according to the 2017 civil aviation statistical bulletin issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

The industry's total profit in 2017 rose 7.2 billion yuan to exceed 65 billion yuan, or 12.3 percent up from the previous year.

By the end of last year, there were a total of 58 airlines in China, which offered services on 4,418 air routes.

The country has 229 certified airports and the civil aviation fleet reached 3,296.

China is forecast to surpass the United States to become the world's largest civil aviation market by 2022, according to a report by the International Air Transport Association.