On December 5th, 2025, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) issued the Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Development of Artificial Intelligence + Civil Aviation” (hereinafter referred to as the opinions). The opinions are developed in line with the “AI+ Initiative” issued by the State Council and the “AI+ Transport” issued by the Ministry of Transport, and sets out general goals, principles and requirements to integrate AI deeply in Civil Aviation industry with 42 application scenarios identified.
The opinions set 2 two major goals:
- By 2027, Chinese Civil Aviation industry should have successfully integrated AI in areas of safety, operations, travel, logistics, supervision, planning and construction. Construction of core and supporting elements for AI in civil aviation industry will begin to show results.
- By 2030, AI should have integrated more deeply and extensively across all areas of civil aviation, followed by gradual improvement of AI governance system and safety and security assurance system for civil aviation industry. AI will become a powerful engine driving the high-quality development of civil aviation.
The opinions also outline 8 general principles: Innovation “Driven, Safe and Controllable, Demand-Oriented, Scenario-Empowered, Key Breakthrough, Systematic Planning, Collaborative Advancement.”
The opinions sort out 42 application scenarios for “AI + Civil Aviation” revolving around 6 key areas – safety operations, travel, logistics, regulation and planning and construction. The document proposes an intelligent application framework covering safety risk warning, operational optimization, passenger convenience services, logistics efficiency improvement, and precision decision-making in regulatory oversight. These application scenarios are considered to have high potential for widespread adoption. The appendix section of the opinions details further guidance for implementation for each scenario.
The opinions emphasize the need to strengthen the supply of essential elements for the high-quality development of “AI + Civil Aviation.” This includes enhancing the foundational support capabilities of AI in civil aviation through the construction of high-quality datasets, the development of infrastructure platforms, and research on large industrial models and algorithms.
Notably, the opinions call for strengthening the standardization of high-quality datasets to foster robust and integrated collaboration across the supply chain. This addresses the common bottleneck in industrial AI application which is data fragmentation. Effective AI requires unified data to ensure smooth operation and deliver accurate analysis and decisions. To resolve this, the opinions advocate a full-lifecycle approach for which the industry should develop standards covering data collection, governance, annotation, and application. These standards will strengthen activities such as data cleaning, annotation and quality assessment. This will not only consolidating the industry’s capabilities to build high-quality datasets but also accelerate progress towards more value-added AI application.
Furthermore, the opinions stressed an practical and value-driven approach to developing high-quality datasets, tailored to real-world scenarios. Key business scenarios highlighted include passenger travel, flight operations, air cargo logistics, airspace resource management, and integrated transportation coordination optimization. Efforts should focus on building the necessary corpora – such as text, image, and video databases – along with knowledge base to support industry-scale AI models. This will boost the supply of industry-specific data products and services. In addition, the opinions mention a need to accelerate the development of application norms and sector standards for AI with civil aviation. The goal is to establish a comprehensive AI standards system that addresses data governance, algorithm interfaces, application performance, testing and certification. Pilot programs will be launched in the later stage to test out the feasibility of these standards.
China’s AI+ Civil Aviation strategy represents a systematic state-coordinated effort to harness AI as a catalyst for industrial modernization. By combining clear phased objectives with a strong emphasis on data standardization and scenario-based implementation, the plan seeks to transform aviation operations, enhance safety, and drive efficiency at scale. For foreign stakeholders, this reflects not only China’s ambition to lead in aviation AI but also underscores the growing importance of interopreable standards and cross-border collaboration in an increasingly digital and data-driven aviation ecosystem.
Source: https://www.gov.cn/lianbo/bumen/202512/content_7050377.htm
