The Lijiang airport, which expanded recently to become the second largest airport of the province, can transport more than 4 million passengers a year. Guo Anfei / China Daily

Lijiang, a prefecture-level hotspot of tourism in the northwest of Yunnan province, formally opened its first direct flight to Hong Kong on May 31, greatly shortening the travel time between the two cities.

The flight, operated by Sichuan Airlines Co Ltd, will fly every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Before the route opened, passengers from Hong Kong to Lijiang had to fly to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, or stop over neighboring cities. It takes eight hours to ride by bus on a mountainous road from Kunming to Lijiang.

Lijiang is also planning new flights to other national tourist sites and Southeast Asian countries, including Japan, Korea and Thailand.

On March 6, Lijiang airport was approved to operate as a hub airport, the third in the province after Kunming and Xishuangbanna.

The airport connects Tibet, Sichuan and Chongqing to the north; Laos, Thailand and Singapore to the south; India to the west; and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan to the east.

As early as December 2003, Lijiang had a direct chartered flight for some special tourists to Hong Kong. From January to February 2006, the city again had 18 direct chartered flights to Hong Kong. After the Lijiang airport was approved as a hub airport, Lijiang held discussions with airliners, such as China Eastern Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, Thai Airways, Orient Thai Airlines and the Korean Air Company about opening international flights to the city.

A flight from Lijiang to Bangkok flight is scheduled to open by the end of June, and a route to Seoul is also being discussed.

Yang Chengxin, a senior official of the Lijiang government, said the city will improve facilities supporting the Lijiang airport and open more domestic and international flights to make Yunnan into Southeast Asia's gateway.

The Lijiang airport, which expanded recently to become the second largest airport of the province, can transport more than 4 million passengers a year. The airport started construction in 1992 and was put into operation in July 1995.

The robust growth of Lijiang's tourism market has been boosting the amount of air traffic. The airport transported less than 20,000 passengers in 1995, and the number has since risen to more than 2 million. And the number of routes has grown from one in 1995 to 16 in 2011.

To meet the increasing demand, Lijiang airport underwent two expansions - one in 1998 and the second in 2007. After completing the recent expansion, the airport has a designed capacity of transporting 4.5 million passengers a year and 16,000 tons of freight.

The old terminal was transformed into an international terminal with an area of 5,300 square meters.

Lijiang is working to open flights to China's Taiwan province, Thailand, Korea and Japan as soon as possible and to make sure at least two international flights would open within this year. The tourist city is also considering opening flights to five UNESCO-listed World Heritage Sites, including Huangshan Mountain, Jiuzhaigou, Zhangjiajie, Guilin and the Pingyao Old Town.

By 2015, Lijiang airport will have more than 35 domestic routes and at least five international routes, local officials said. And the airport will transport more than 4 million tourists, including more than 400,000 foreign tourists, and about 20,000 tons of freight. By then, the airport will serve as a top-class airport in the Pan-Asian area.

Contact the writers at liyingqing@chinadaily.com.cn and guoanfei@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 06/01/2012 page7)