More airports in pipeline as travel demand rises

China is expected to have around 450 civil airports by 2035 to meet people's burgeoning demand for air travel, according to the civil aviation authority on Tuesday.

The country will step up efforts to build more than 200 airports over the next 15 years. By that time, China's airports will be able to handle more than 3 billion passenger trips every year, according to Dong Zhiyi, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

"General aviation airports increased from 158 in 2009 to 238 as of the end of October, with 37 handling over 10 million passenger trips annually," Dong said during a national airport conference in Dalian, Liaoning province.