Tianjin to avoid clash with Beijing in airport development orientation

TIANJIN's Binhai International Airport plans to focus on cargo business and develop itself into an air logistics centre and a gateway in northern China, but it will avoid developing similar functions with the Beijing Capital International Airport, Xinhua reports.

China State Council published a guideline for the development of the aviation industry in July, pointing out that airport resources must be further integrated so that different airports in the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei economic circle will not compete with each other.

Tianjin Binhai International Airport is the second largest airport in northern China and an important gateway to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei economic cycle. It is also the fourth in the country to have two runways in operation.

In the period from 2005 to 2010, Tianjin airport's passenger throughput was growing at an annual rate of 27.1 per cent from 2.19 million seats to 7.27 million, while cargo throughput was rising at 20.4 per cent per year from 80,200 to 202,000 tonnes. Both the passenger and cargo increase nearly doubled the national average.