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Beijing to share cargo flights with neighbouring Tianjin and Shijiazhuang

THE city governments of Beijing, Tianjin and Shijiazhuang in China's northern province of Hebei have signed an air traffic agreement to carve up the different types of flights heading for the cities' airports.

Under the agreement, Beijing Capital International Airport will get most of the large, international flights in the region while small, domestic flights will go to either Tianjin or Shijiazhuang.

However, the changes will take several years to come into force as rail and other infrastructure linking the cities is built, reported quoting the Beijing News.

Beijing's international airport is struggling to cope with its current volume of air traffic, while Tianjin and Shijiazhuang want more passengers. The new agreement did not give exact details of which flights would be routed away from Beijing.

It takes about an hour to travel from Tianjin's airport to Beijing by rail, but there is no high-speed rail link from the capital to airports in Hebei. The authorities said the transport situation would improve as high-speed rail links were completed.

Flights shifted out of Beijing would also help spur economic growth in the neighbouring region, and Shijiazhuang and Tianjin are likely to get more air cargo deliveries under the agreement, the report added.