Guangzhou airport hits 6 million passengers last month
By LI WENFANG in Guangzhou | China Daily | Updated: 2023-08-05 07:49
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport recorded its first monthly passenger throughput of over 6 million since 2020.
The airport handled about 6.05 million passengers in July, becoming the first airport in the country to surpass the 6 million mark on a monthly basis this year.
Total passenger throughput at the airport grew by 85 percent year-on-year in July, with international and regional passengers numbering 901,100.
Since the summer vacation season began, flights between Guangzhou in Guangdong province and a number of domestic and international destinations have increased, said Qi Yaoming, deputy general manager of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Co.
During the summer vacation, students, travelers and parent-child passengers have increased significantly and will continue to drive up the throughput, he said.
More than 100 international and regional flights were added, resumed or launched at the airport in the first seven months of this year, and the airport is now connected with nearly 70 international and regional destinations.
Meanwhile, three freight flights were launched this week, linking Guangzhou with India's Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi, which is expected to bring 8,000 metric tons of cargo to Baiyun airport annually.
The three new India-bound flights will carry goods such as electronics, automobile parts, textiles and machinery, and ship fresh food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical materials back to Guangzhou.
YTO Airlines, which opened the three routes, plans to launch a flight between Guangzhou and Dhaka of Bangladesh.
Previously, cargo flights from China to South Asia were mainly flown from cities including Kunming in Yunnan province and Nanning in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
Baiyun airport draws on the advantages of advanced manufacturing and foreign trade in the Pearl River Delta region, according to the Guangdong Airport Authority.
The airport has seen 14 new cargo flights launched this year, including five international and regional ones.
International and regional cargo flights have contributed more than 70 percent of the cargo throughput at the airport this year.
When the third-phase expansion is completed, the airport will have five runways, with the area of its freight center doubled to over 1 million square meters.
YTO Airlines said it would continue to invest resources in Baiyun airport and expand its global cargo network from there.
