中国政府已经制定了一项雄心勃勃的计划，在2020年之前将新建97个地方机场，以满足日益激增的国内旅客与货运需求，整个计划预计耗资625亿美元。

The Chinese government has launched an ambitious plan to build 97 regional airports by 2020 at an estimated cost of $62.5bn in an attempt to meet soaring domestic passenger and cargo¹ demand.

国务院已于数日之前批准了该项计划。按照规划，在2010年底之前将建成45个新机场。

The cabinet has approved the plan in recent days, stipulating² that 45 of the new airports are to be finished by the end of 2010.

截至2006年底，中国共拥有147个民用机场。

By the end of 2006, China had 147 civilian³ airports.

过去10年的迅猛经济发展，使中国航空基础设施出现了严重瓶颈，迫使政府展开此项大规模建设计划。

A decade of rapid econ?omic growth has created serious bottlenecks⁴ in aviation infrastructure⁵, forcing the government to embark⁶ on a substantial building programme.

但分析人士表示，由于缺乏熟练工作人员，即使新机场投入使用，机场拥堵的老毛病仍将持续。 But analysts⁷ said chronic⁸ congestion⁹ will linger even with the addition of new airports, because of shortages in skilled personnel.

向中国机场提供咨询服务的兰德隆与布朗公司(Landrum & Brown)亚太区董事总经理伊丽莎白?波士尔(Elizabeth Bosher)表示：“你可以建设机场、购买飞机，但它们还是需要人来运转及维修。中国各地的扩张规模是如此之大，至少在今后10年内，人员培训将是第一要务。”

Elizabeth Bosher, Asia- Pacific managing director at Landrum & Brown, which provides consulting services to Chinese airports, said: “You can build the airports and buy the planes but you still need the people to maintain and repair them. There is so much expansion going on across the country that training will be top priority for at least the next 10 years.”

中国民航总局(CAAC)表示，该计划的目标是让全国13亿人口的82%生活在机场周边100公里或90分钟车程以内。这一比例目前为61%。

The General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) said the ob?jective was for 82 per cent of the country’s 1.3bn people to live within 100km or 90 minutes’ drive from an airport, up from the current 61 per cent.

但分析人士还质疑，在偏远地区建立众多小型机场是否是改善该行业效率的最佳方法。

But analysts also questioned whether building numerous small airports in more remote areas was the best way to improve efficiency in the industry.

中国的机场通常由省级政府建设，盼望这会推动当地经济发展。近年来，因为缺乏需求或与附近地区协调不力，很多小机场在建成后不久就被迫关闭。

Airports in China are usually built by provincial¹⁰ governments hoping to boost their local economies. There have been numerous examples in recent years of small airports closing down soon after they have been built because of lack of demand or poor co-ordination with regional neighbours.

民航总局表示，航空业面临的最大问题包括机场数量太少、服务地域不广、（上海、广州和北京等）枢纽机场容量饱和、军民航空域使用协调困难等。

According to CAAC the biggest problems facing the civil aviation industry include too few airports, limited services, saturation¹¹ at the main hubs of Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing and difficulties in co-ordinating civil and military flight paths.

从现在到2020年，中国国内航空货运量预计每年增长15%，客运量每年增长11.4%，因此，上述问题可能会有所加剧。

These problems are expected to worsen with domestic Chinese cargo traffic projected to increase 15 per cent annually¹² between now and 2020, while passenger traffic should increase at an annual rate of 11.4 per cent.