Baiyun Int'l Airport Joint-Stock Company InauguratedGuangzhou Baiyun International Airport Joint-Stock Company was established Tuesday in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.The new company will be responsible for business operations at both the existing Baiyun International Airport and a new airport with the same name later, changing the traditional practices of airports which had to take charge of management, guarantee, and business operations. Another company -- Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Co., Ltd.-- will be in charge of administration only when the new airport is completed. The new company has a registered capital of 600 million yuan (US$72.29 million) and is financed by five other companies, including Air China and Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Group Company. Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Group Company takes up 96 percent of the new company's stake, while the other four companies own one percent each of the new company's stakes. In addition to taking charge of all profit-making businesses at the old Baiyun International Airport, the new company will also be responsible for raising funds for construction of the new airport in Huadu City, which falls under jurisdiction of Guangzhou, through share listing. With a history of over 70 years, the existing Baiyun International Airport, located in the suburbs of Guangzhou, is one of the busiest airports in China. It kept an average annual growth rate of eight percent in profits from 1993 to 1999. In the first eight months, the airport handled 8.5 million passengers, up eight percent from the same period last year. It expects to handle 13 million passengers this year. The airport has long been overburdened by increasing passengers and cargo. The new modernized airport is calculated to meet demands from ever-growing businesses. The new airport will be built in several stages with designs provided by Parsons Corp. and URS Greiner Corp, two US firms, and the Guangdong Provincial Architectural Design Institute. It will cover an area of 1,456 hectares, about four times the area of the existing Baiyun Airport. According to a construction plan, the first phase of the new airport is scheduled to be finished by 2002 and will be put into trial service in 2003. The new airport is expected to cost a total of 20 billion yuan (US$2.4 billion), 49 percent of which will be covered by the Guangzhou Transport Investment Co., Ltd. The first- phase construction will cost about 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion). By 2010, when the airport is fully completed, it will be able to handle 80 million arrivals and departures and one million tons of cargo annually. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/ |