Zhejiang Province, an economic powerhouse in east China, has had its first international airport which links its capital Hangzhou with many other cities around the globe.

Approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the Hangzhou-based Xiaoshan Airport, a new airport that has been operating for less than a year, is recently renamed Xiaoshan International Airport.

The airport, located some 30 kilometers from downtown Hangzhou and covering an area of 480 hectares, has been a key airport for tourism and a reserve airport for the Pudong and Hongqiao airports of Shanghai since it opened to traffic at the end of last year.

The airport has handled over 33,000 takeoffs and landings, reporting a throughput of 2.769 million passengers and 79,000 tons of cargoes and posts, said a source from the airport administration.

The busy airport is an epitome of Zhejiang's booming tourism and civil aviation industries, said Fan Xu, vice-president of Xiaoshan Airport Co..

"Now, 20 airline companies use the airport, which is linked with some 40 cities, including Bangkok and Macao, by regular flights," he said.

( Xinhua News Agency Decembe 17, 2001)