BEIJING -- The Beidou satellite navigation system will be fully operational worldwide by 2020, said Li Jian, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on Thursday.
Li was speaking at an international forum on aviation security in Beijing.
The system has been successfully tested in the general aviation sector, which includes all civil aviation operations other than scheduled air services, as well as by general aircraft including helicopters and private jets.
"We are promoting the Beidou system up to the standards of International Civil Aviation Organization [ICAO], and will gradually apply it to carriers," Li said.
Currently there are four satellite navigation systems in the world, the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) and Russian GLONASS, as well as the European Galileo and Beidou, which are still being developed.
J-11 fighters in air exercise
Beauties dancing on the rings
Attendants-to-be join Mr. & Miss Campus Contest
Beijing's toughest anti-smoking law takes effect
Family lives in cave for about 50 years in SW China
PLA soldiers operating vehicle-mounted guns in drill
Blind carpenter in E China's Jiangxi
China hosts overseas disaster relief exercise for the first time
20 pairs of twins who will become flight attendants in Sichuan
Obama is sowing discontent in S.China Sea
Rescuers work through night to reach cruise ship survivors
Driving through limbo
Facing down MERSDay|Week
