Regional traffic throughout China has increased significantly since 2000, the year the country saw the introduction of the first Western regional jet into its domestic network. Since that time passenger numbers have increased by nearly 17 percent a year. The number of flights, meanwhile, has risen 15.5 percent. In 2000 the regional fleet made 60,705 flights. Three years later it flew 93,420. During those same years the fleet carried 2.41 and 3.85 million passengers, respectively, equating to 3.6 and 4.4 percent of the Chinese industry’s total.