Zhuhai (Jinwan) Airport's never-used east airside concourse became fully operational on Feb 9, increasing the number of gates from 15 to 23 and annual handling capacity by 150 percent to 12 million passengers.
Air China, China Express, and Shenzhen, Kunming and Shandong airlines now depart from and arrive at some of the new gates. Once all 23 are in operation, the facility will have adequate passenger handling capacity for the next five years, said an airport executive.
Ceremony for renovated east concourse
Zhuhai Jinwan, which opened in June 1995, was the country's largest airport with what was at the time state-of-the-art facilities. Its translucent glass airside concourses, adopting Swedish technologies, were taken as reference by domestic producers back then.
Yet, only one airside concourse has been in use although the facility was designed to handle 12 million passengers at airside concourses on each wing of the U-shaped terminal.
Zhuhai Airport wishes happy New Year
Over time, however, passenger throughput went from less than 1 million in 2006 to some 9 million in 2017. Currently, the airport operates at an international standard, processing more than 210 flights weekly to 51 domestic cities. This has led its overall service score to 4.59.
Costing more than 90 million yuan ($14.3 million), the upgrades to the east airside concourse commenced on Aug 15, 2017. Under the guidance of the local government and civil aviation authorities, the wing passed review and came into trial operation just three months later.
Zhuhai Airport concourse [Photos by Zhong Fan / Zhuhai Daily]
When the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge opens in a few months, Zhuhai-Hong Kong Airport Management will erect waiting lounges at the bridge's checkpoints for the convenience of Zhuhai Airport and Hong Kong International Airport passengers.
