China's largest civil airport takes shape as city spreads its wings

Chengdu is strengthening its connection with the world by increasing the number of international air routes going through it regularly.

The megacity in western China opened a non-stop route to Los Angeles on March 15. Operated by Hainan Airlines, the direct flight runs two roundtrips a week, departing from Chengdu every Monday and Thursday, and from Los Angeles every Wednesday and Sunday.

The one-way trip has been shortened by about four hours to 13 hours.

It is the second non-stop service between Chengdu and the United States. The first was started in 2014 by United Airlines and linked the city to San Francisco.

Liu Jichun, director of the marketing department at Hainan Airlines, said the opening of the Los Angeles route is just the beginning of the company's development plans in Chengdu.

"The Civil Aviation Administration of China has allowed Hainan Airlines to start operating a non-stop route between Chengdu and New York some time this year," Liu said. "We are hoping to open it before the peak season during summer and autumn."

Liu said Hainan Airlines is also planning to set up a branch in Chengdu.

The non-stop routes from Chengdu to Los Angeles and New York are among nine international air routes signed by six airlines with the Chengdu city government and Sichuan Province Airport Group during the 22nd World Route Development Forum, also known as World Routes, which was held in Chengdu in September 2016.

Routes to Sydney, Moscow, Madrid and Dubai started operations last year. Routes to Auckland, Sochi and Addis Ababa are planned to open this year.

Chengdu opened 10 new international air routes in 2016, increasing the total number to nearly 100. The air routes link the city to 78 cities around the world, including San Francisco, Paris, Frankfurt, Melbourne and Doha.

Pan Gangjun, general manager of Sichuan Province Airport Group, said: "The company has been pushing forward the upgrading of Chengdu from a regional hub to a State-level one in recent years."

Shuangliu airport handled 46 million passengers in 2016, ranking fourth among airports on the Chinese mainland, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Pan said the city is also building the Chengdu Tianfu International Airport into one of the largest airports along the Silk Road Economic Belt.

The Tianfu airport, started construction in May 2016, is expected to be China's largest civil airport that is constructed during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period, according to Pan.

With an investment of 71.86 billion yuan ($10.4 billion), the airport will be completed in 2019 and go into operation in 2020.

The first phase of the new airport is designed to have three runways, handling 40 million passengers and 700,000 metric tons of cargo a year. The long-term target for the airport is to have six runways with an annual capacity of 90 million passengers and 2 million metric tons of cargo.

Chengdu is expected to have 100 international air routes by the end of this year, according to the Chengdu Port and Logistics Office.