With the Winter/Spring flight schedule kicking in yesterday, Nanjing’s winged travel addicts have a slew of new destination options. From Beijing Daxing International Airport that is now the world’s biggest to the remote mountains of Yunnan, there is something for everyone.
The new schedule reveals that Nanjing Lukou International Airport has introduced new international flights serving Macau, Seoul, Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, Nha Trang and Mandalay.
Others have had their frequency adjusted, namely flights to Tokyo, Osaka and Sapporo on China Eastern Airlines, as well as Sapporo and Jeju on budget carrier Lucky Airlines.
On the domestic front, in addition to the debut flight from Nanjing to Beijing Daxing, there have also been other new or adjusted services introduced, serving Nanning (via Changde) on GX Airlines; Dazhou-Lhasa (via Dazhou) on Tibet Airlines; Foshan on budget carrier China United Airlines; Guiyang (via Hengyang) on China Airlines; Dehong (via Linyi) on Air Travel (formerly Hongtu Airlines); Nanyang on low-cost carrier 9Air; Jinchang (via Zhengzhou) on China Eastern Airlines; as well as Beihai (via Hengyang), Shenzhen (via Yichang) and Yingkou on Lucky Airlines.
Among the aforementioned, worthy of special mention to readers of The Nanjinger perhaps looking for a winter break to warmer climes are the destinations of Dehong and Liyi in Yunnan Province.
Bordering Myanmar on its northern, westerns and southern flanks, Dehong, or the Dehong Autonomous Prefecture to be correct, boasts stunning landscapes and Buddhist architecture, accompanied by water quality levels among the highest anywhere and a host of protected species comprising both faun and flora.
Known as the “Southern Silk Road”, and drawing in tourists from all over China, Liyi has been home to 23 ethnic minorities since time immortal, while its subtropical, low-latitude mountain monsoon climate has given it the reputation as “Asia’s Most Constant Temperature City”.
The same of course cannot be said for this fine nation’s capital. Beijing’s gigantic new Daxing airport, with its impressive shape having supplied the nickname “Starfish”, was opened on 25 September.
With 4 runways at preset and the prospect of 7 in the future, the vast terminal building occupies 700,000 square metres, making it the largest single-structure airport terminal in the world, while the Chinese government is estimated to have paid approximately US$17.47 billion for the entire project, according to the airport’s official website.
Assigned to Netherlands Airport Consultants, the Daxing airport master plan was developed with high respect to environmental protection and the aim of simplifying passenger procedures; with less than 600 metres between check in and gates, Daxing will be the envy of airports worldwide. In terms of passenger capacity, Daxing will handle 45 million passengers annually by 2021, surging to its capacity of 100 million in the longer-term, a fact that may not be the envy of airports worldwide.
Hebei Airlines flies daily from Nanjing Lukou International Airport to Beijing Daxing International Airport, departing at 15:15, arriving 19:20. Coming back to Nanjing, we get the chance to see the starfish in daylight too; the flight leaves Daxing at 13:55 and arrives Lukou 16:05.
