The 2018 World Route Development Forum focusing on the theme of Gathering in Guangzhou and Connecting the World was held in Guangzhou from September 16 to 18. Deputy Administrator of CAAC Wang Zhiqing indicated in his remarks that CAAC will as always stick to the policy of opening market, and continue to create an enabling environment for the expansion of air transport cooperation. Member of the Standing Committee of Guangdong Province and Vice-Governor of People's Government of Guangdong Province Lin Shaochun attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech.

World Route Development Forum is honored as the Olympics and the World Expo of the aviation industry. This year, the forum brought together representatives of more than 300 airlines, 700 airport management bodies, and 130 government departments and tourism authorities from 115 countries and regions. Surrounding the three buzzwords of aviation, city and economy, three forums were held to discuss topics of international aviation hub strategy and city innovation, aviation related economy as well as smart cities and smart airports. Representatives of airports, airlines and well-known venture capital institutions from around the world, and experts as well as officials from relevant industries in China were invited to jointly discuss the interconnection of aviation, cities, economy and innovation. Other activities were held including Guangzhou Tourism Promotion, one on one meeting, Guangzhou city tours and folk art performance.

Wang Zhiqing pointed out that benefiting from the recovering global economy in recent years, the global civil aviation industry has maintained a rapid growing momentum. China has actively participated in, witnessed and promoted the development of global civil aviation, and has made active contributions to the air transport development around the world. In the future, China will remain one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world, and its market size will continue to increase: Global purchase and sale will provide powerful support for the expansion of the market; the ever growing consumer base together with an increasing number of outbound tourists of China will lay a solid foundation for the market expansion; and the continuously enhanced supporting capability, including more than 130 newly added airports by the year 2025, which will make the total number of airports reach 370, and the further released airspace capacity will provide much room for expansion.

To further support the development of global air transport, Wang Zhiqing expressed that Chinese aviation market has great potential, and CAAC will continue to adhere to the open market policy, to promote air transport liberalization and facilitation, and to create an enabling environment for the further expansion of air transport cooperation. He hoped that this forum can be an opportunity for various parties to reach agreements and cooperation, and to make greater contributions to the sustainable and healthy development of world aviation.

Lin Shaochun expressed in his speech that Guangzhou has attached great importance to civil aviation development. In recent years, a "5+4" Backbone Airport Layout with Guangzhou Baiyun Airport being the international hub has been established, and efforts have been made to continuously strengthen airport planning and expand both domestic and international routes, as a result of which the civil aviation industry has registered fast and good growth, and its composite ability and international competence kept enhancing. Lin also indicated that Guangdong will take this forum as an opportunity to attract and to be aligned with global aviation resources, share experience and learn from others regarding international aviation development, in a bid to boost high level reform and development of Guangdong civil aviation, and make due contributions to civil aviation development in both China and the wider world.

During the ceremony, Guangdong Airport Authority together with seven airlines including China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, Siberia Airlines, etc. signed a Memorandum of?Cooperation (MOC) to launch new routes. According to the MOC, Guangzhou Baiyun Airport will launch new international routes linking the city with Madrid, Milan, St. Petersburg and Islamabad.

It is known that in 2017, China launched 382 international routes, and the total number of international routes reached 1634, which doubled the number in 2015; registered a 550 million passenger traffic, which increased by 13% compared with 2016, and accounted for 16.3% of the total global passenger traffic.