Harbin airport handles record number of passengers

Harbin Taiping International Airport in China’s northernmost Heilongjiang province handled 20.78 million passengers and 145,671 flights in 2019, achieving a year-on-year increase of 1.7 percent and 0.6 percent respectively, according to airport officials.

They said it marked the fourth consecutive year that Harbin airport was the busiest airport in the Northeast China region.

In recent years, Harbin airport has actively expanded into the aviation market and continuously fine-tuned its route network layout to meet the travel needs of passengers.

In 2019 alone, the airport opened brand-new flights linking Harbin to international destinations such as Nha Trang and Da Nang in Vietnam, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Jakarta in Indonesia and Kazan in Russia.

It also increased flights to its Niigata, Osaka, Seoul and Vladivostok routes and reopened the flights to Jeju, Cheongju and Nagoya.

In addition, Harbin airport launched its first international flight served by the ARJ21— China's first homebuilt regional passenger jet—which connects Harbin to Vladivostok in Russia.

Harbin, capital city of Heilongjiang province, through its airport currently has flight connections to 113 domestic and overseas cities via 201 different flight services -- covering all the capital cities of China’s provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, as well as cities in Russia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Singapore.

Meanwhile, a total of 53 airlines have launched services from Harbin airport, including China Southern Airlines, Air China, Scoot Airways and Ural Airlines.

Officials said that in future, there are plans for Harbin airport to become an international air hub in Northeast Asia.