China plans to build nearly 100 new airports over the next decade to meet rocketing demand for air travel.

The General Administration of Civil Aviation said that it plans to spend over 450 billion yuan ($62 billion) building no fewer than 97 new airports by the year 2020.

If the plans are carried through, this massive expansion of capacity will see the number of Chinese airports increase to 244.

The plans will mean that eight of every ten Chinese will live within 100 kilometres of an airport.

Chinese Economic Growth Fuels Air Travel Demand

The development plans are designed to tap into the burgeoning demand for air travel in China.

According to official government figures, during 2007 Chinese air passenger traffic stood at 185 million - a 15% rise on the previous year.

Industry analysts say this rise in demand is unlikely to stop due to China's rapid economic development. This year China is likely to become the world's third biggest economy, overtaking Germany.

The recent developments of Beijing Capital International Airport, where a third runway has recently begun operations and a third terminal due to open next month, is evidence of the rapid demand for air travel which has been fuelled by China's economic growth.

In yet another sign of the country's airport development, Hong Kong International Airport has recently announced that its traffic grew by 7.5% during 2007 to reach nearly 48 million passengers.

The airport, which only opened a decade ago, is currently undergoing upgrade work to enable it to handle over 50 million passengers per year - putting it, alongside Beijing, among the top 10 busiest airports in the world.