China's civil aviation fleet is set to nearly double to about 5,000 aircraft in five years, a top civil aviation official said on Thursday.

Li Jiaxiang, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), said on the sidelines of a forum on civil aviation development in Beijing that some "450 million to 500 million passenger trips" are expected to be made annually by the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) period, up from 230 million in 2009.

The country's civil aviation fleet will have 4,800 to 5,000 planes to transport passengers and cargo in the next five years, up from the current 2,600 planes, he said.

It is the first time the CAAC has made public its forecast for the next five-year period.

Li said China's aviation industry has witnessed double-digit growth in the past five years, and "this pace will not slow down in the coming five years".

Since 1978, when China adopted the reform and opening-up policy, the civil aviation sector has developed at an astonishing speed of 17.2 percent annually.

"Our forecast, based on industry trends as well as the surging social and economic demand for air transport, shows the speed of development will remain this way for a long period," Li said.