Shuangliu, a Rising Airport Garden City in China

CHENGDU,China,Oct. 1,2018 -- In July 2018,the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph launched a report entitled "New direct flight from Gatwick to Chengdu promises panda encounters". The new direct flight from Shuangliu Airport to London Airport was put into use,allowing British tourists more opportunities to get close to pandas.

A "panda tour" shortens the distance between Chengdu and London andhelps the world witness the development and prosperity of Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport.

With rapid development,Shuangliu International Airport ranks in the world's leading airports.

Since its first international air route in 1987,Shuangliu International Airport has opened 109 routes,connecting five continents.

Air China,Sichuan Airlines,Qatar Airways,Vietnam Airlines andother domestic and foreign airlinesoperate flightsat Shuangliu International Airport. In January 2018,Shuangliu International Airport opened a new direct passenger route to St. Petersburg; in June,it started a new direct flight to Auckland which became the third direct route to Oceania after those to Melbourne and Sydney; in July,Chengdu's direct flight to London Gatwick Airport launched a new way for Shuangliu to go the world. There are 313 routes in total by the end of 2017. Among them,more than 60 domestic and foreign airlinesoperate in Chengdu,ranking No.1 in Midwest China. As more important air routes have been launched,Chengdu has become the only city in the international (regional) air route networks of Midwest China that reaches five continents.

In recent years,the passenger throughput at Shuangliu International Airport has been increasing yearly. From 2013 to 2017,the average growth rate of the passenger throughput reached 10.47% and that of goods reached 6.5%. The passenger throughput at Shuangliu International Airport in 2017 was 49.802 million. Besides Beijing,Shanghai and Guangzhou,Shuangliu International Airport is the only western airport in China listed in the top 30 global airports on throughput recently released by Civil aviation data analysis system (CADAS).

The steady development of Shuangliu International Airport has accelerated Chengdu's opening to the outside world and has also become the engine of its economic development.

Shuangliu stepping into a new chapter of economic development

Shuangliu International Airport is located in Shuangliu District,southwest of Chengdu,about 10km away from downtown Chengdu. Forty years ago,the economy of Shuangliu was dominated by traditional agricultural planting,with a poor industrial foundation. As the country expands its opening policy gradually,Shuangliucontinues developing the airport economy and actively builds industrial functional zonesusing the advantages of airport location and open leading positions. In April 2017,Shuangliu started the construction of the pilot free trade zone. Since then,Shuangliu Pilot Free Trade Zone keep making effort to become the open highland of gateway cities in Western China. Shuangliu Pilot Free Trade Zone Administration Bureau also helps formulate 50 new industrial policies,realizing the revenue of 142.9 billion yuan and tax revenue of 8.14 billion yuan (including customs tax of 5 billion yuan),with import and export volume of 33.521 billion yuan,an increase of 37.3%. All these lay a solid foundation for building a "free trade + airport" industrial system.

The airport is crucial to Shuangliu's development and plays a significant role in Shuangliu's economy. Almost every day,two Boeing 747 planes full of Foxconn products fly from Shuangliu to Europe,America and other global markets; The famous brands of notebook computers (Dell,Lenovo,etc.) produced and assembled by the large-scale OEM companies (Renbao,Weichuang,etc.) are carried from Shuangliu International Airport to the world. Nick Sanders,CEO of Gardner Airlines UK company,exclaimed on the spot after investigating the environment and prospects of Shuangliu aviation industry,"During my short but full visit,I felt Shuangliu's prosperous economy and convenient transportation. Such a favorable investment condition makes me very confident about prospects of Gardner Airlines in Shuangliu."

Shuangliu aviation hub functional area gathers 8 base airlines such as Air China and Sichuan Airlines,3 aviation maintenance bases,and 13 global top 100 logistics companies such as UPS,DHL,SF and YT,and 10 national top 100 logistics companies. In the first half of 2018,Shuangliu District signed 21 new projects and initiated 12 projects,ranking the 18th in the "2018 Top 100 Districts & Counties in China's Business Environment".

Shuangliu will continue to develop the airport economy and focus on three major areas of hub-based aviation services,air-to-air international trade and airport-based international commerce; creating six major aviation economic clusters,namely aviation operation services,aviation manufacturing and maintenance,aviation logistics,cross-border trades,aviation finance and aviation headquarters; speeding up the construction of internationally renowned and China's first-class capital of aviation economy. We will ensure that the value of the aviation economic output reaches 120 billion yuan in 2018 and exceeds 150 billion yuan by 2020.

Building an airport garden city -- "Green Shuangliu"

While promoting the airport economy,Shuangliu is actively building a beautiful airport and improving the level of green resources. Up to now,thegreen area in Shuangliu District has reached 4030.06 hectares,of which parks cover 557.47 hectares,with a greenrate of 42.58% anda green coverage rate of 50.38%. The per capita park green land has reached 15.44 m2.

In the future,Shuangliu will build "Airport Flower Field Park" at Muma Mountain,15,000 mu Airport Central Park and Jinma River and Jinjiang Green Wedge with high standards. It will also speed up the construction of airport greenway,carefully lay out various urban parks,green landscape and rural pastoral landscape,and form the regional ecological pattern,in a bid to ensure that the per capita park green land area will reach 16m2 by 2020.

Relying on favorable location and various policies,in the future,when people talk about Shuangliu,they will think of not only the airport,but an airport garden city famous for its aviation economy capital,biological industry city and electronic information valley.

View original content:/news-releases/shuangliu-a-rising-airport-garden-city-in-china-300721721.html