It may not offer comfy seats in its departure lounge, provide a smoking room or even lay on shuttle buses, but a new airport terminal in Zhengzhou, Henan Province is expecting in the future to handle 5 million passengers a year.

That's because what the new no-frills terminal at Xinzheng International Airport does offer is one-way tickets from Zhengzhou to Shanghai from as little as 99 yuan ($14) per person, one-eighth of the usual price.

The country's first budget air terminal was put into trial operations yesterday.

Xu Dahai, manager of the airport's operations department told China Daily that once fully operational, the terminal will be able to handle up to 5 million passengers a year.

Currently, just one domestic budget carrier - Spring Airlines - uses the terminal, but Xu said he is confident others will follow.

"We are in talks with a second small Chinese airline and several budget operators from Southeast Asia," he said.

Zhang Lei, a spokesman for Spring Airlines, described the opening of the new facility as "good news".

As well as charging lower fees, the terminal will offer airlines much simpler landing procedures, Xu said.

Covering 3,800 sq m and with four check-in counters, the terminal is a conversion of a former temporary international departure hall.

To keep costs to a minimum it has only the most basic of services, such as an information desk and air conditioning. There is no free drinking water or VIP lounges, Xu said.

Passengers even have to walk 40 m to board flights, he said.

Waiting for his flight yesterday, Chen Chao said he had flown to Shanghai many times from Zhengzhou, but in the past, his company had always paid for his ticket.

This time, however, he was taking his family. They had planned to go by train, but when Chen saw the low prices, he said he could not resist.

"If we had paid the full price, it would have been almost 5,000 yuan. But now it's just 600 yuan," he said.

(China Daily May 22, 2008)