MORE than 30 Chinese airports are expected to connect themselves to the nation's fast developing high speed network, reported China Daily.

"Airports in eastern and southwestern China that have faced competition from high-speed railways are seeking improved connections," said Wang Jian, secretary-general of China Civil Airports Association, in a telephone interview with China Daily.

A new high speed rail connecting two major cities in northeast China's Jilin province will have a stop at its Changchun Longjia Airport from next year. This will cut the transport time to the airport by at least 30 minutes, said the airport's publicity official Nie Rongjun.

Also, Hongqiao High-speed Railway Station, the newest station on the Beijing-Shanghai line, is within walking distance of Shanghai Hongqiao Airport.

But the co-ordination of China's air and rail transport is still in its infancy, said Beijing Jiaotong University transport professor Zhao Jian.

In China, the railway, aviation and highway sectors have their own construction plans, while the ministry of transport is responsible for air, water and roads, but not railways.

"Therefore, more co-operation and co-ordination is expected between various authorities when mapping out overall plans," he said.

By 2012, China will have laid around 13,000 km of high-speed tracks, and by 2020, the network will be completed. This may affect more than 80 per cent of the civil aviation market in China then, according to a report from the China Civil Airports Association.