May. 8, 2012 (China Knowledge) – Mainland China-based airlines carried 293.17 million passengers last year, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 9.5% or 25.48 million, according to a report released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the country's aviation regulator.

Of the total traffic, 271.99 million passengers were on domestic fights, up 9.5% or 23.61 million on a year-on-year basis, 7.6 million took the routes among Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, up 13.1% or 880,000, and 21.18 million on international flights, up 9.7% or 1.87 million.

In 2011, China saw its cargo and mail traffic for civil aviation sector decline 1% from a year earlier to 5.58 million tons, consisting of 3.79 million tons on domestic flights, 210,000 tons on routes among Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and 1.78 million tons on international flights.

CAAC also indicates that China's passenger throughput in civil airports totaled 621 million last year, up 10% from a year earlier.

The passenger throughput stood at 365 million in East China, 38 million in Northeast China, 59 million in Central China and 159 million in West China.