Chinese civil airlines possess 1,115 aircraft, 603 of which are for transportation use, and 512 aircraft for general use. The total number of operating airlines reached 1,176 and the operation mileage totaled 2.22 million kilometers. In 2002, the civil aviation transportation volume increased to 16.2 billion tons/kilometers, ranking the fifth in the world.

Domestic Air Routes
(1) Domestic air routes are mainly concentrated in the eastern areas of Harbin-Beijing-Xi'an-Chengdu-Kunmin, particularly in the delta area of Beijing-Shanghai-Guangzhou. Generally, air routes decrease in density from east to west.
(2) Domestic air routes mostly involve return flights between cities, supplemented with radiation centers of large and middle-sized cities.
(3) Domestic air routes fly mainly in the north-south direction, with some airlines extending from the coast to the inland in an east-west direction.

International Air Routes
(1) International air routes within China extend, with Beijing as its center, to the east, west and south via airports in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Urumqi, Dalian, Kunmin and Xiamen.
(2) Major international air routes fly mainly in a west-east direction, connecting Japan and North America in the east, and the Middle East and Europe in the west, comprising an important part of the Northern Hemisphere Aviation Band.
(3) China's international air routes form an important part of the Asia-Pacific Aviation Transportation Network, with close connections to the South, Southeast Asia and Australia.

Aviation Freight Transport
Compared with the previous year, China's aviation sector experienced a steady growth during 2001. Domestic airline indices reported a turnover of 9.52 billion tons per kilometer and 1.354 million tons, up 11.4% and 8.3% respectively in comparison with the same period in 2000; 605 million tons per kilometer and 82,800 tons for Hong Kong and Macao airlines, up 4.5% and down 6.8% respectively in comparison with the same period in 2000. In 2001 the international airline production index was 4.6 billion tons per kilometer and 356,000 tons, up 8.1% and 0.5% since the year before. The international transportation volume of circular flow has decreased somewhat since 2000. During 2001, although transportation volume of circular flow witnessed a large increase, the percentage of international transportation volume of circular flow against the overall volume of circular flow decreased 8.9% and 0.3% respectively compared to the previous year. In recent years the volume of cargo for transportation has been increasing however, in 2001 this rate of increase has slowed down. The volume of cargo and mail for transportation in 2001 saw an increase of 6.6%, down 9.2% on the previous year based on comparable caliber. Cargo and mail transportation volume for international airlines suffered a slow increase, up only 0.5%.

Cargo and mail transportation volume for Hong Kong and Macao airlines suffered negative growth, down 6.8%. The daily utilization ratio for airplanes increased steadily in, adding up to 8.3 hours, an additional 0.6 hours in comparison with the same period in 2000. This additional utilization consisted of 8.5 hours for large-and-medium-sized airplanes and 4.2 hours for small-sized airplanes, up 0.3 and 0.4 hours respectively.

By the end of January 2003, the transportation volume for the whole civil aviation industry was 180,055 tons including 145,344.8 tons of transportation volume and 208.585 million tons per kilometer of circular flow for domestic airlines. Hong Kong and Macao airlines transportation volume reached 82.867 million tons and 12.833 million tons per kilometer of circular flow.

International airlines reached 347.098 million tons of transportation volume and 239.868 million tons per kilometer of circular flow.

Aviation Passenger Transport
In 2001, the expected target for passenger transport for the Chinese civil aviation sector was set at 74.5 million people. The actual volume of passengers turned out to be 75.24 million people, up 10.9% on the previous year. In 2001, aviation production for general use realized 48,837 hours over the year, up 10.7% on the year before.

Compared with 2000, passenger transport in 2001 continued to grow steadily. The domestic airline target was forecast to be 68.31 million people, up 10.5% in comparison to the same period of the previous year. Hong Kong and Macao airlines contributed 4.243 million people, up 5.6 % over the previous year. International airlines contributed 6.926 million people, up 15 % on the earlier year. The international transportation volume of circular flow decreased during 2001. Despite the high growth rate of transportation volume of circular flow, increasing competition amongst international airlines led to a reduction of 8.9%, 0.3% less than the previous year. In 2001, the average seating rate was 61.9 %, rising 0.7% since the same period the year before and the carry rate was 58.6%, down 1.4%. The plane utilization ratio continued to rise and reached 8.3 hours, an increase of 0.6 hours over the previous year. The utilization ratio of the large-scale planes was 8.5 hours, up 0.3 hours; the ratio of small-scale planes was 4.2 hours, 0.4 hours more than the year before.

In 2002, the expected target for passenger transport for the whole civil aviation industry was forecast to be 8.3 million people, an increase of 10.3 % on 2001; the volume of goods and mail transported was expected to reach 1.85 million tons, up 8.2 %. The target for domestic airlines (including the Hong Kong and Macao airlines) was to transport 75.4 million passengers, an increase of 10.4 % and international airlines were expected to transport 7.6 million passengers, up 9.7 %. Total general utilization for the year reached 53,700 hours, up 10%.

By the end of January 2003, the volume of passengers transported for the whole civil aviation industry was 7.341 million people including 6.626 people and 8525.404 million people per kilometer of circular flow amongst domestic airlines, 324,000 people and 428.458 million people per kilometer of circular flow for Hong Kong-Macao airlines and 715,000 people and 2,499.011 million people per kilometer of circular flow amongst international airlines.