Northwest China to Build Six More Airports in Coming Five YearsChina's Northwestern region is going to build six more airports in the coming five years to make the current 12 airports up to 18 in order to back up the great western development. The rate of all-weather traffic airports will thus be increased from the present 50 to 80 percent.Hanzhong, An'kang, Yan'an and Yulin airports in Shaanxi Province are also under expansion and reconstruction. By the end of last year, Northwest Administration of Civil Aviation registered 12 regular airports in the region with air traffic linking up with 65 cities. So far, the region has developed a regional aviation network with the Xianyang International Airport in Xi'an as its center and Lanzhou, Yinchuan and Xining, the provincial capitals on the trunk routes that are supplemented by tourism-developing cities and other branch lines. During the "Tenth Five Year Plan" period (2001-2005), the growth rate of air-traffic handling in the region will exceed the average growth rate in the whole country. It is estimated that by 2005, passenger-handling capacity will reach 9.52 million, an annual increase of 12 percent with freight and mail delivery amounting to 214,800 tons, a rise of 15 percent annually. By PD Online staff member Li Yan |
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