China will build 70 new airports within the next three years, the head of the country's aviation watchdog said Monday, June 11, as part of ambitious expansion plans in the industry despite an economic slowdown, according to AFP.

Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) chief Li Jiaxiang also reiterated pledges that carriers would buy on average more than 300 planes a year from 2011 to 2015 - the country's current five-year economic plan.

"China plans to build 70 new airports in the next few years and to expand 100 existing airports," he told delegates in Beijing at the annual general meeting of global airline industry group IATA.

He added that the number of airports would reach more than 230 by the end of 2015, and that Chinese carriers would operate around 4,700 planes by then.

The aggressive expansion comes after IATA head Tony Tyler warned that global airline profits would more than halve this year on the back of surging oil prices and the eurozone crisis.

Growth in China, the world's second largest economy, slowed to 8.1 percent in the first quarter of 2012 - its slowest pace in nearly three years.

But Ma Kai, a state councillor in charge of economic development, said at the AGM that China's aviation market had the "biggest growth potential" in the world.

Li said that by the end of 2011, China had 2,888 commercial planes in operation and its aviation industry employed 1.2 million people.