HANGZHOU, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Lishui Airport, located in the south of east China's Zhejiang Province, officially opened to air traffic on Friday.
On Friday afternoon, the airport's first inbound flight -- CA1873 -- arrived from Beijing Capital International Airport and landed smoothly.
Designated as a domestic regional airport, the new facility has been designed to handle 1 million passengers and 4,000 tonnes of cargo annually. The airport's runway is 2,800 meters in length and its terminal building covers an area of 12,000 square meters.
The opening of Lishui Airport will strengthen the city of Lishui's role as a comprehensive transportation hub, enhance services for 470,000 overseas Chinese and the city's 2.7 million residents, attract more tourists to Lishui's scenic landscapes, and encourage more enterprises to invest in the city and its surrounding areas, according to Luo Xiaolin, head of the local transport bureau.
On its first day of operations, the airport launched flight routes to Beijing and Shanghai. Routes to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Guiyang, Chongqing and Chengdu will follow within the year, with the total number of routes expected to exceed 10 by the end of 2025, and to total 14 by 2026. ■
