The civil aviation cooperation between China and Africa is growing rapidly as the number of passengers from China and Africa is expected to rise by 15 percent annually, according to Chinese civil aviation.
According to a report by Xinhua News Agency, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China delivered on April 9, Thursday, two of China's locally made Xinzhou-60 aircraft to Cameroon.
The civil aviation agency told Xinhua that this was due to the strong cooperation between China and 23 African nations which signed an air transport agreement in 2014. Last year, South Africa also signed a deal to purchase 10 Xiaoying-500s.
Xinhua reported that eight African airlines operate a transport service to China with 52 flights every week. China Southern Airlines has already started flight to Mauritius last year, the report added.
Last year, China-Africa Development Fund and Hainan Airlines also signed a memorandum of understanding with Kenya's Astral Aviation, providing support for development in the East Africa area.
Hainan Airline serves a domestic flight in Ghana, but announced plans to expand to Nigeria, Togo and Cote d'Ivoire.
By the end of 2014, at least 17 sub-Saharan African countries would have airports built with support provided by China, the report said.
To further drive the growth of aviation cooperation, Flag carrier Air China is set to start in June flight between Beijing and Johannesburg three times a week, while the flight connecting Beijing and Addis Ababa will start in October, the report said.
During his visit to Africa last year, Premier Li Keqiang encouraged Chinese companies to partner with African counterparts to improve the region's aviation industry.
Wang Zhiqing, deputy chief of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said during the African civil Aviation Commission in Senegal last year that China will provide African countries with 100 scholarships on aviation study, and also pledged to further cooperate with Africa on aviation training, infrastructure and security.