shenzhen international airport officially starts 24-hour customs clearance service today to allow airline companies to open more international and intercontinental routes.
at the same time, two runways will be optimized today by adopting a "two takeoffs and one landing" mode that means they can host 55 flights in an hour, seven flights more than the "one takeoff, one landing" method that allows 48 flights at full capacity in an hour. it will allow the airport to open more routes.
"the rise of international travelers has pushed the airport to consider around-the-clock customs clearance, which will stimulate flow of international passengers, especially passenger flow from southeast asian and northeast asian countries, which are four hours away by plane," chen fanhua, general manager of shenzhen airport shareholding co., said at a ceremony yesterday.
after the 24-hour clearance service is adopted, china southern airlines will open flights to sydney and dubai in december and january. shenzhen airlines will open direct flights to tokyo, japan, on jan. 1 and is planning more international routes to kuala lumpur in malaysia and ho chi minh city in vietnam.
"at an appropriate time next year, we will open flights to european countries. we aren't worrying about the number of passengers," liu guojun, general manager with china southern airlines, said yesterday.
in 2014, 4.32 million local residents traveled abroad with 90 percent choosing to fly out of hong kong or guangzhou.
"after the opening of more international and intercontinental routes, i won't need to go to hong kong or guangzhou to take planes," said a resident surnamed huang who often travels to europe on business trips.
shenzhen airport now operates 18 international air routes to 20 airports in japan, south korea, malaysia, thailand, singapore, indonesia, vietnam and mauritius. the number of international passengers going through shenzhen airport between january and september reached 1.22 million, an increase of 40 percent over the same period last year.
the passenger turnover at shenzhen airport in 2014 reached 36.27 million, ranking fifth among chinese cities. it is expected to hit 40 million in 2015.
