BEIJING - China Southern Airlines, the country's largest air carrier, handled around 150 million passenger trips in 2019, according to the airline Wednesday.

In 2019, the airline realized a total of 2.95 million flight hours, said the airline.

By the end of 2019, the airline had more than 860 aircraft.

China's civil aviation industry posted steady growth in 2019, reporting an expanded size and improved service quality, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

The country's civil aviation industry operated 660 million passenger trips in 2019, up 7.9 percent year-on-year, according to the latest statistics released by the administration.

The country aims to further expand the civil aviation industry in 2020, expecting 7.6 percent yearly growth in the number of passenger trips.

China is now the world's second-largest civil aviation market. It is expected to become the world's largest by the mid-2020s, according to forecasts by the International Air Transport Association.