中国拟在未来5年新建45座机场China plans airport building spree

China will build another 45 airports during the next five years, the industry regulator said on Thursday, raising fresh questions about the potential for excess capacity in the transport sector.

中国民航业监管机构周四表示，中国未来5年将再建造45座机场，引发了有关中国交通运输业可能运力过剩的新问题。

Li Jiaxing, the head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said that the new investments would increase the number of airports in the country to 220. This is in spite of the fact that most of the existing airports are losing money.

中国民航总局(CAAC)局长李家祥表示，此轮新投资将使中国的机场总数增至220座。中国现有的机场中，多数都在亏本运营。

Although demand for air travel has grown rapidly in recent years as the purchasing power of Chinese consumers has risen, the expansion in airport infrastructure, which accelerated during the economic stimulus programme of the past two years, has become one of a number of potential sources of over- investment .

尽管随着中国消费者的购买力增强，他们对航空旅行的需求近年迅速增长，但在过去两年经济刺激计划期间加速的机场基础设施扩建，已成为过度投资的众多潜在来源之一。

Mr Li, who used to run Air China, the country’s biggest airline, before moving to the regulator, said that the government would invest Rmb1,500bn ($228bn) in the aviation sector in the period to 2015, although he did not say how much of that would go to airports.

在调往民航总局之前曾执掌中国最大航空公司——中国国航(Air China)的李家祥表示，政府在截至2015的期间将对航空业投资1.5万亿元人民币（合2280亿美元），尽管他没有说明这其中有多少将投入机场建设。

According to a report from Reuters, the news agency, Mr Li, who is also a vice-minister for transport, admitted on Thursday that 130 of the country’s 175 existing airports were currently lossmaking, with the combined loss amounting to Rmb1.68bn.

路透社的一篇报道称，兼任中国交通运输部副部长的李家祥周四承认，中国175座现有机场中，有130座目前在亏本运营，亏损总额达到16.8亿元人民币。

While large new airports in some of China’s biggest cities have quickly found themselves operating at near to capacity because of rising air traffic, industry officials say that there are also a string of new airports in smaller cities that operate only a handful of flights a week. Goldman Sachs forecasts that passenger demand will rise by 15 per cent this year, as the growing middle class in China becomes more able to travel.

尽管由于航空交通量不断上升，中国一些最大城市的新建大型机场运力很快接近饱和，但业内官员称，也有大批位于中小城市的新机场每周只起落几架航班。随着中国不断壮大的中产阶层更有能力出门旅行，高盛(Goldman Sachs)预测，乘客需求今年将增长15%。

The rapid expansion in China’s high-speed rail network has also raised questions about over-investment, a concern that could have been connected to the news 10 days ago that Liu Zhijun, the minister of railways, is being investigated for “a severe violation of discipline”.

中国高速铁路网的快速扩建，也引发了有关过度投资的问题。人们自然把这一担忧与10天前的一条新闻联系起来，即中国铁道部部长刘志军正因“严重违纪”受到调查。

Mr Liu spearheaded the country’s investment in high-speed rail and has been dismissed.

曾推动中国高铁投资的刘志军，现已被撤职。

While some analysts believe that high ticket prices will limit the demand for high-speed rail, supporters of the investment argue that the new expanded passenger network will free up space on the existing network for the transportation of cargo such as coal, much of which is delivered across the country by truck.

尽管一些分析师相信，高票价将抑制消费者对高铁的需求，但高铁投资的支持者们辩称，客运列车服务得到扩大后，将使现有铁路网腾出空间，能够运输煤炭等货物。目前中国有大量煤炭是用卡车运输的。

However, the new high-speed rail routes, such as the Wuhan-Guangzhou line, which slash the journey time from 10 hours down to three hours, will also be a strong competitor against the aviation sector.

然而，新的高速列车服务也将成为航空业的强大竞争对手，比如武汉至广州的高铁已把行程从原来的10小时缩短到3小时。

One potential boon for China’s new airports could come from smaller aircraft, after the government announced in November that civilian aircraft could fly in airspace below 4,000m. The decision could prompt a big increase in the use of helicopters and light aircraft. Sinolink Securities, a Chinese brokerage, estimates that purchases of helicopters during the next decade in China will reach 3,300.

对中国的新机场来说，一个潜在利好因素可能来自小型飞机。中国政府去年11月宣布向民用飞机开放4000米以下空域。这一决定可能推动直升机和轻型飞机的使用大幅增加。国金证券(Sinolink Securities)估计，今后10年中国直升机的购买量将达到3300架。