Despite the raging storms and floods, Nanjing’s Lukou airport today celebrates the opening of a new route with the first direct flight between the Southern capital and Los Angeles, expanding Nanjing’s aerial connections by one exciting destination.
It has been one year since the new terminal, Lukou Airport Phase 2 opened its doors just in time for the Youth Olympics. The brand new terminal offers 263,000m² floor space, 35 boarding bridges, and an annual capacity 18 million passengers. With new destinations being constantly added it seems everything is on track for the airport to become as important as its high-speed railway station.
The Los Angeles no-change connection is just one example of how the airport is increasing its flight destinations and numbers to make life for its residents and potential visitors more convenient. Planned for 27th July is the addition of another Bangkok flight, which will make for a total of four weekly connections to Thailand’s bustling capital.
Currently, the airport already services a total of 25 cities located in 11 different countries and 3 regions, from Australia over Europe and America to many destinations in Asia, with around 210 weekly international flights. While Lukou Airport’s star might be rising it still has a long way to go to catch up with its big brother, Beijing airport. The latter boasts 120 available destinations for passenger flights only, not even counting cargo flights, and was named the second busiest airport in the world in terms of passenger traffic from 2013 to 2013, while 2014 saw a footfall of over 86.1 million passengers, almost five times the amount of Nanjing.
Still, the host city of the YOG’s is poised for infrastructure expansion, whether that is on the ground with the latest metro lines opening only a few months ago and the high-speed network being constantly expanded, or in the air with our new connection to the glamorous city of movie stars. Fancy a trip?
