New Guangzhou airport to speed up China's hub construction

With the opening of Guangzhou's newBaiyun airport Thursday, China's plan to build three key airport hubs on the mainland was accelerated.

As China's first airport designed and constructed according to the hub idea, the new Baiyun airport will have an important influence on China's overall civil aviation development, said director Yang Yuanyuan of the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China.

The hub construction is intended to help form China's civil aviation network, with hubs, second-class airports, regional airports interacted and help enhance China's key airlines' competitive edge.

Most nations with strong aviation capability have already developed hubs. Zhang Chunlin, president of the Guangdong Airport Management Company said the construction of China's hub airports will make better use of flight resources, meaning that major airlines fly key routes and smaller airlines fly regional routes. Domestic transferring aircraft can make connections via hubs and international passengers can fly abroad through hubs, thus airlineare expected to increase their frequencies and passenger volume aswell as to reduce their operation costs.

A significant Sino-US aviation agreement was signed 10 days agoto offer more traffic rights to both US and Chinese airlines ushering China's aviation industry into a more open and competitive era.

Yang said after three hubs are finished in Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai, the three hub-based airlines China Southern, China Eastern and Air China will develop more quickly and increase theirinternational positions.

Zhang said the main function of the Baiyun airport will be domestic routes, while Hong Kong airport will specialize in international routes. Domestic cargo can be collected from the Baiyun airport and transferred to Hong Kong and then to other nations. International cargo can be transferred via Hong Kong and then distributed in the Baiyun airport to Chinese cities. Meanwhile Shenzhen and Zhuhai airports which are within the same province as the Guangzhou Baiyun can also join hands to make regional transportation.

Experts have said the Baiyun airport will be a model for the construction of Beijing and Shanghai airport hubs, which have neighboring Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Hangzhou and Nanjing airports.

Source: Xinhua