Xinjiang flight routes for 19 provinces launched

China Southern Airlines has recently opened a Harbin-Jinan-Urumqi flight route, marking the launch of all of the flight routes by China's civil aviation industry for the "pairing" assistance from 19 provinces and municipalities to Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, according to a press conference by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on the Chinese aviation industry's assistance to Xinjiang.

To provide the 19 provinces and municipalities with convenient aviation services, Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Hainan Airlines have successively opened five Xinjiang direct flight routes — the Harbin-Jinan-Urumqi route, Guangzhou-Urumqi-Kashgar route, Shijiazhuang-Xi'an-Korla route, Jinan-Urumqi-Kashgar route and the Shanghai-Urumqi-Kashgar route.

According to the minutes of the "Talks on Accelerating the Leap-Forward Development of Xinjiang's Civil Aviation Industry" in which an agreement was signed between the CAAC and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the CAAC has furthered its support for the development of Xinjiang's civil aviation industry, allocating Xinjiang more air traffic rights, a higher number and frequency of flights and other resources.

The CAAC is helping to build a domestic air route network in eastern Xinjiang and an international air route network in western Xinjiang. It has also raised the frequency of flights linking Xinjiang and major Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, increased the number of air routes and flights between Xinjiang and the 19 provinces and municipalities and perfected the distribution of Xinjiang's airports.

After two airports in Turpan and Bole were put into operation in July, Xinjiang now has 16 airports in service, boasting the highest number of airports among all Chinese provinces. Forty-one airlines have a presence in Xinjiang, opening 116 domestic and international air routes there, including 30 international air routes.

By People's Daily Online