BEIJING, May 11 -- China made steady progress in its construction of new airports last year, official data showed on Wednesday.

Throughout 2022, six new freight airports and 29 new general-purpose airports were built on the Chinese mainland, bringing respective totals to 254 and 399 by the end of the year, according to a report from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

A total of 4,165 freight aircraft had been registered in China by the end of 2022, up 111 from a year earlier, the report said.

Air routes that were in regular use amounted to 4,670 by the end of 2022, with 336 reaching global destinations, it added.

China's civil aviation industry is expected to rebound to approximately 75 percent of its pre-pandemic level in 2023, the administration said earlier this year.

The country's civil aviation transport saw a steady rebound in the first quarter of this year, with the sector's total transport turnover at 23.99 billion tonne-kilometers, up 39.7 percent year on year, data from the administration showed.