26 September 30 - October 6, 2016 CHINA DAILY EUROPEAN WEEKLY Report

By ZHUAN TI an , mentioned Chengdu’s [email protected] advantage as it lies at the intersec- tion of the Silk Road Economic Belt hengdu in prov- and the 21st Century Maritime Silk ince, a mega city in western A hub city, becoming Road. China, is getting closer to “The prominent status of Cheng- the world, as well as its goal du in China’s aviation development ofC becoming a national hub city with has made it a key point for our glob- more international air routes. al development,” he said. The Chengdu city government, closer to the world Nik Hammond, vice-president of together with Sichuan Province Air- , said the Chengdu port Group, signed agreements with airport is larger than Sydney Airport six airlines to open nine non-stop air Chengdu is strengthening its global links via a new international airport in terms of passenger volume. routes departing from Chengdu dur- “The geographical advantage of ing the 22nd World Route Develop- Chengdu will create larger room ment Forum, also known as World Major direct flights connecting Chengdu to the world for growth and more development Routes. opportunities for the city,” he said. As one of the biggest annual Cologne Pan Gangjun, general manager events for the civil aviation sector, Frankfurt of Sichuan Province Airport Group, Luxembourg this year’s World Routes was held in Amsterdam said the company has been pushing Chengdu from Sept 24 to 27. Brussels forward the upgrading of Chengdu

The six airlines are , Warsaw Moscow Shuangliu International Airport London Airlines, Capital Air- from a regional aviation hub to a Vienna Jeju Island lines, , Ethiopian Air- Paris State-level international aviation lines and . Accord- Milan CHINA To kyo San Francisco New York hub in recent years. ing to the agreements, they will The Shuangliu airport is the New Delhi Nagoya Macao open the direct routes within one Dubai Chengdu fourth-largest aviation hub on the year, strengthening Chengdu’s con- Karachi Chinese mainland. It has opened Bangkok nection to , Oceania, North Bangkok Male Saipan 89 international routes, connecting Taichung Phuket Island Sumy America, and the Middle East. Kaohsiung Chengdu to 74 international cities , the largest Kuala Lumpur Singapore including London, San Francisco, in Africa, will open a direct Jakarta Paris, Frankfurt, and fl ight between Chengdu and Addis Bali Island Doha. The airport handled 294,000 Ababa in October 2017, running four fl ights, 42 million passengers and round trips every week. This will be 557,000 metric tons of cargo in 2015, the second non-stop route between Sydney according to Pan. Chengdu and Africa, after the one Melbourne Chengdu will have 19 regular to Mauritius. SU JINGBO / CHINA DAILY intercontinental direct fl ights after Tewolde GebreMariam, CEO of the opening of the nine routes, cov- Ethiopian Airlines, said Chengdu is ering almost all of the hub cities in a perfect destination due to its large Asia, , Europe, Ocea- population and good geographical nia and Africa. location. New international fl ights Chen Zhongwei, director of “The new route will open a gate- Chengdu Port and Logistics OA ce, way to . I hope it will said Chengdu will open more inter- further boost the bilateral develop- 1. Chengdu-Dubai 4. Chengdu-Madrid and autumn, and twice a week in national fl ights during the 13th Five- ment between Asia and Africa in winter and spring. It will be launched by Sichuan It will be launched by Beijing Capital Year Plan (2016-20), especially stra- tourism, trade and investment,” he Airlines on Nov 1, using Airbus 330, Airlines on Dec 16, using Airbus 330, 7. Chengdu-Sochi tegic intercontinental direct fl ights. said. three times a week. twice a week. The city is expected to have 100 Sichuan Airlines will open a non- It will be launched by Tibet Airlines international routes by 2020. stop route between Chengdu and 2. Chengdu-Moscow 5. Chengdu-Los Angeles on June 1, 2017, using Airbus 330, Chen said the city will also opti- three times a week. Dubai, which will be the third non- It will be turned into a regular It will be launched by mize transfer services and ground stop route linking Chengdu to the service by Sichuan Airlines on Nov by the end of December, using 8. Chengdu-Auckland services at the airport, and improve Middle East after the Abu Dhabi and 1, using Airbus 330, three times a Boeing 787, three times a week in its capacity for cargo transportation. Doha routes. week in summer and autumn, and summer and autumn, and twice a It will be launched by Sichuan Airlines “We will try our best to build on June 16, 2017, three times a week. It will also open a direct route to twice a week in winter and spring. week in winter and spring. Chengdu into an international Auckland, New Zealand, and turn 3. Chengdu-Sydney 6. Chengdu-New York 9. Chengdu-Addis Ababa transportation hub, and thus help the Chengdu-Moscow route from It will be launched by Ethiopian Air- to build it into a national hub city,” a chartered fl ight to a regular one. It will be launched by Air China on It will be launched by Hainan Airlines he said. Nov 11, using Airbus 330, three in the fi rst half of 2017, using Boeing lines on Oct 31, 2017, using Boeing Tibet Airlines will open the sec- times a week. 787, three times a week in summer 787 or 777, four times a week. Dong Zhiyi, deputy director of ond direct fl ight between Chengdu the Civil Aviation Administration of and Russia, which will link Chengdu China, said Chengdu is blessed with and Sochi. great advantages and the potential will open to develop air transportation, as it a non-stop route between Chengdu lies at the intersection of the Belt and Madrid. and Road routes and the Yangtze Hainan Airlines will open two River Economic Belt. direct fl ights from Chengdu to the “CAAC will strongly support United States, linking the city to Los Chengdu to build it into an inter- Angeles and New York. national air hub, making it the Air China will launch a direct third city on the Chinese mainland route between Chengdu and Sydney to have a second civil airport, and on Nov 11, the second direct fl ight a center for civil aviation develop- between Chengdu and ment in western China,” he said. after the Chengdu-Melbourne route. Chengdu began construction Adrian Newton, an executive at of a new airport, Chengdu Tianfu UBM EMEA — organizer of the International Airport, in May. It forum, said it was a wise choice to is China’s largest civil airport that have Chengdu as the host city. began construction during the 13th “The number of delegates this Five-Year Plan. year is the largest in World Routes’ With an investment of 71.86 bil- history, showing Chengdu’s appeal lion yuan ($10.8 billion), the airport to the world,” he said. will be completed in 2019 and go “The opening of the nine new into operation in 2020. The long- international routes will further term target for the airport is to have improve its status as an interna- six runways, with an annual capac- tional aviation hub,” he said. ity of 90 million passengers and 2 Liu Jichun, an executive at Hain- BUSINESS REPS talk about cooperation during the 22nd World Route Development Forum. PENG CHAO / CHINA DAILY million metric tons of cargo.