On May 25, the China Civil Aviation Development Forum (CCADF) 2017 opens in Beijing. The two-day forum is themed “the City Clusters and the Airport Clusters in the Internet Era: New Connectivity for the Global Aviation Development”, and is designed to provide a platform for participants to engage in in-depth exchanges on the new trends in air transport network and airports layout and to promote international cooperation among the global stakeholders in the civil aviation industry, by focusing on the theme of how the aviation industry will achieve new connectivity based on city clusters and airport clusters in the Internet era. The forum also represents an important measure taken by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) to implement the deliverables of the “Belt and Road” Forum for International Cooperation. During CCADF, CAAC will hold a seminar on civil aviation development to conduct in-depth exchanges with leaders from 21 provinces and municipalities.

Li Xiaopeng, Minister of Transport, attended and addressed the meeting and Feng Zhenglin, CAAC Administrator, delivered a keynote speech entitled “Grasp the Enormous Opportunity Brought Forth by the “Road and Belt” Initiative to Achieve New Connectivity of World-Class City Clusters and Airport Clusters”. The forum was respectively moderated by Dong Zhiyi and Wang Zhiqing, Deputy Administrators of CAAC, and was chaired by Dong Zhiyi, who made the opening and closing remarks.

Over 300 representatives attended the forum, including government officials, from more than 20 countries and regions and from international organizations, scholars and entrepreneurs. They were dignitaries from foreign governments and international organizations, including Liu Fang, Secretary General of ICAO, Alexander V. Neradko, Director General of Russian Federal Air Transport Agency, Kamil Rudolecky, Deputy Minister for Transport of Czech, Enoh T. Ebong, Acting Director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, Susan Mcdermontt, Acting Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs of U.S. Department of Transportation, Jennifer Solomon, Assistant Administrator of U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, Matthew Baldwin, Deputy Director-General with the Department of Mobility and Transport at European Commission, Ingrid Cherfils, President of European Civil Aviation Conference, José Ricardo Pataro Botelho de Queiroz, Director-President of the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil and Shum Jin-Chyi Kevin, Director General of Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore; high-level officials from Chinese government, including Hu Zucai, Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission of China, Zhang Junkuo, Vice Minister at the Development Research Center of the State Council, Cai Jun, Deputy Director General with the Air Traffic Control Commission of Central Military Committee, Wu Youyi, General Engineer with the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China and Zheng Jian, Member of the Party Leadership Group with National Railway Administration of China; provincial and municipal leaders from major city clusters including Sui Zhenjiang, Vice Mayor of Beijing Municipal Government, Chen Shun, Vice Governor of Yunnan Provincial People’s Government, Song Xibin, Mayor of Harbin Municipal Government and Ilham Sabir, Mayor of Urumqi Municipal Government; leaders from enterprises and industry associations including Tan Ruisong, President of Aviation Industry Corporation of China, Cai Jianjiang, CEO of China National Aviation Corporation (Group) Limited and Li Jun, Chairman of China Air Transport Association; as well as leadership from major domestic and foreign airlines, airports, service providers, aeronautical product manufacturers and civil aviation industry regulators.

Feng Zhenglin pointed out in his speech that, this forum, with the theme reflecting the new pattern of regional economic and social growth and the new trends in the development of the air transport industry under economic globalization, was of great significance for the implementation of the deliverables of the “Belt and Road” Forum for International Cooperation by the global civil aviation community. He stated that, the emergence of city clusters and airport clusters constitutes a salient feature in the era of economic globalization, at the same time it brought forth new opportunities and challenges for economic and social development. For the air transport industry, as the city and airport clusterization progresses, there is an increasingly visible trend toward diversified air transport market and a continuous value chain extension in the aviation service sector, which poses massive challenges to the management concept, operation pattern and government regulation in the civil aviation industry. All parties should firmly seize the new opportunity brought by the development of city clusters and airport clusters, strive to adapt to the new changes, take up the new challenges boldly, accelerate reform and innovation, and make greater contributions to the development of new connectivity for city clusters and airport clusters.

Feng Zhenglin expounded his views from four perspectives related to how to develop world-class airport clusters to serve the need of developing world-class city clusters in China. He pointed out that, city clusterization has already become a strategic pattern in China’s urbanization drive. China put forth explicitly in its 13th Five-Year Plan that, to turn the cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area and along the Yangtze River and the Pearl River Delta into world-class city clusters, the general strategy and direction as reflected in the national plan shall be followed; and the civil aviation industry, as a strategic industry, shall take proactive actions to build a fully functional, mutually coordinated and supportive airport network and a well-connected air route network with wide coverage, which are inherently needed in China’s efforts to become a civil aviation powerhouse. Developing world-class airport clusters will set the stage for the development of a function-based airport network and air route network. As a result, CAAC will focus on deepening the supply-side structural reform in the civil aviation industry, breaking the bottlenecks and addressing deep-seated problems, and making efforts to develop three world-class airport clusters respectively in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area and along the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta. First, rational division of work and function is the prerequisite for the development of world-class airport clusters. CAAC will enhance communication with local governments to coordinate the interests of various stakeholders, guide the development of three airport clusters which are to be rational in division of function and clear in market positioning, facilitate seamless connection between hub airports on one hand and regional, trunk and feeder airports on the other hand, and promote all-round and coordinated development of passenger and cargo air transport, thus improving the overall function and efficiency of airport clusters and better accommodating the huge demand for air transport in the three city clusters. Second, optimization of the structure of air route network underpins the development of world-class airport clusters. CAAC will strive to develop three international aviation hubs in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and facilitate the establishment of a mechanism on air route network coordination by the three airport clusters, in order to guide the development of an air transport market featuring mutually coordinated and differentiated development between network airlines and regional airlines, trunk routes and feeder routes, passenger transport and cargo transport, full-service and low-cost airlines. Third, improvement of supporting infrastructure is indispensable to the development of world-class airport clusters. CAAC will conscientiously sum up the experience from the reform on meticulous airspace management in the Pearl River Delta, with the objective of applying the outcomes of the pilot reform to the airspaces along the Yangtze River and in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, and step up, in conjunction with relevant departments, adjustment and reform in national airspace management, to facilitate the establishment as early as possible of an airspace management system that suits the specific conditions of our country, is uniformly managed by the State, and features highly integrated military and civil development. Fourth, synergy is the key to the development of world-class airport clusters. Efforts shall be made to proactively explore the management pattern for regional airport clusters, establish a comprehensive and systematic mechanism on coordinated operation and integrated development, and improve the comprehensive transportation system and customs clearance policies and environment.

Feng Zhenglin stated that, city clusters and airport clusters are characterized by interdependence and synergized development—a new trend in the Internet era. Developing new connectivity for city clusters and airport clusters is not only a strategy guiding the civil aviation industry in leveraging its comparative advantages, but also an important vehicle incentivizing transformation and upgrade in urban and regional development. CAAC stands ready to strengthen communication with its counterparts across the world, work together with relevant domestic departments, and join hands with local governments, so as to translate the good wishes of developing city clusters and airport clusters into concrete actions, unleash the potentials of civil aviation as a strategic industry in, among others, developing a new system for an open economy and promoting all-round economic development and social progress, and set up a “Silk Road” over the air for regional and global connectivity.

Included in this forum were 28 speeches, 6 discussion panels and one parallel discussion panel. Participants present at the forum will conduct in-depth discussions and exchange views on “New Opportunities for Civil Aviation Development in the Internet Era”, “New Synergy of City Clusters and Airport Clusters”, “Developing Inter-City Connectivity Based on Airport Clusters” and “Developing New Ways of Resource Allocation Based on Airport Clusters”.

As a top-level official forum approved by the State Council and hosted by CAAC, the CCADF is now in its ninth year. Due to its high-level speakers, forward-looking and informed speeches and diversified forms of presentation, the forum, due to its growing attraction and influence, has become an important communication platform for the civil aviation industry both in China and the world at large.