The aviation infrastructure in China is about to take a big leap forward with the addition of 97 airports, including a second international airport in Beijing. As of now, the country has only 147 airports, so the goal is to reach 244 in the next 12 years. (By comparison, the U.S.A., with less than one-quarter the population of China, has more than 5,000 public-use airports and 555 that are certificated for air-carrier operations.) The increase will mean that by 2020, 82 percent of China's population will be living within a 90-minute drive of an airport, compared to 61 percent today. The project will cost $64 billion, China Daily reported.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/news/china-to-build-97-new-airports-by-2020