The Civil Aviation Administration of China announced Thursday that it plans to build at least 45 new airports in the next five years as travel booms, Bloomberg reported. The plan calls for US$230 billion in new spending to expand air travel. At present China has 175 airports, but 130 of them ran at a loss last year. Still, CAAC administrator Li Jiaxiang said that Beijing will continue to subsidize them because they boost local economies. He said that incomes in farming areas near airports rise because fruit and vegetables can be flown to more prosperous cities. Li gave no indication where the new airports are to be located, but they are likely to be in poorer areas in western China. China’s air travel market is expected to surpass the North American market in the next decade.