three airline companies will open four new international routes from shenzhen this month.
china southern airlines will open a direct flight from shenzhen to jakarta, indonesia, on sept. 21. the flight will operate every monday, wednesday, friday and sunday, the shenzhen airport said in a release monday.
a round-trip between shenzhen and jakarta will cost 1,150 yuan (us$173) (before taxes and fees) until the national day holidays in october.
this is the second route from shenzhen to indonesia after a route to bali was opened in 2014.
xiamen airlines will launch a flight from shenzhen to seattle, the united states, on sept. 26.
the flight will depart from shenzhen every monday, wednesday and friday.
during the promotional period, xiamen airlines will be offering individual round-trip economy class tickets for the low price of 1,000 yuan excluding taxes and fees. for group travelers the price will be 800 yuan per person.
spring airlines, a budget flight operator, will open direct flights to sabah, malaysia, and siem reap in cambodia on sept. 26.
the flight to siem reap will operate every monday, wednesday, friday and saturday. the flight to sabah will operate every tuesday, thursday and sunday. the lowest fare for the promotional period is set at 9 yuan. spring airlines now operates four overnight flights in shenzhen.
statistics from shenzhen international airport show that turnover of international travelers in shenzhen reached 1 million in the first six months of the year, an increase of 33.9 percent over the same period last year thanks to the opening of five international routes this year connecting to europe, the united states and australia.
the opening of the four new routes in september as well as other planned routes, such as direct flights to melbourne and los angeles in october and to auckland in november will further enhance the city's role as an international transportation hub.
the shenzhen airport will become an international transport hub, according to an outline of the country's 13th five-year plan, which was passed by 12th national people's congress (npc) earlier this year.
in a government report released at the annual session of the npc, premier li keqiang listed key projects that the central government will support, which included increasing the shenzhen airport’s role as an international and regional transport hub.
the passenger turnover of the shenzhen airport is expected to surpass 40 million this year.
"increasing the role of the shenzhen airport is an effective way to improve the international influence of airports in the pearl river delta area," said liang zhimin, a national committee member of the cppcc.
guangzhou and shenzhen could be terminals for international flights, which would become a driving force for the development of the pearl river delta economy, said cppcc national committee member huang chubiao, also chairman of the shenzhen east pacific group.
