Eight out of ten Chinese to live within 100 km of airports by 2020

New Delhi, Jan.26 : Eight out of ten Chinese will live within 100 kilometers of an airport by 2020 if government plans to build over 90 airports in the next 12 years fructify.

The Xinhua news agency quoted the General Administration of Civil Administration (GACA) as saying in a statement that China will have 192 airports by 2010 and 244 by 2020, up from 147 by the end of 2006.

The 97 new airports planned between 2007 and 2020 would cost an estimated 450 billion yuan (61.6 billion U.S. dollars), it said.

By 2020, 82 percent of China's population, which would contribute 96 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), would live within 100 kilometers or a 90-minute drive from an airport. Currently, six out of ten live within the range of an airport.

China is expected to have 1.45 billion people in 2020, according to the government's population projections.

ANI