NEW LONGEST NON STOP

Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia is to have a new international airport that expects to see passenger traffic of 28 million by 2024. The existing Baita International Airport in Hohhot lacks the capacity to meet the demand. Baita International Airport is currently running beyond its designed capacity of 3 million passengers each year.

The civil aviation market in China has boomed in recent years. In 2017, China’s passenger traffic reached 552 million, increasing by 13% from 2016.

The new airport will be constructed at Qiaoshiying Town in the Horinger County, which is about 40 km away from the city centre, with a capacity of 28 million passengers, freight traffic of 320,000 tonnes each year and 244,000 aircraft movements in 2030.

The positive impacts of the Project include: (i) reduced travel time for passengers; (ii) enhanced efficiency for freight traffic; (iii) reduced noise pollution for the residences in Hohhot city, as the new airport replacing the Baita International Airport will be outside of the city centre; (iv) enhanced safety standards for passengers and reduced accidents; (v) business development in the scarce land space close to the city centre, where Baita International Airport is currently occupying; (vi) enhanced airport environment for passengers; (vii) boosting economic activities in Inner Mongolia, including China-Russia and China-Mongolia bilateral trade cooperation, tourism development.

The terminal will occupy 260,000sq.m, a 50,000sq.m transportation transfer centre and a 95,000sq.m parking building; the flight area will mainly construct 2 independent long-distance runways, and build 130 aircraft seats.

The long-term plan of the new airport is based on a passenger throughput of 65 million passengers, a cargo and mail throughput of 800,000 tons, and an aircraft take-off and landing of 511,000 sorties in 2050. A long-distance runway and a short-distance runway will be built on both sides of the existing runway. The total number of runways has reached 4; supporting facilities such as freight and catering will be built; and T2 and T3 terminals will be built on the east side of T1 terminal building to form a 3-floor integrated pattern.

NEW LONGEST NON STOP PASSENGER FLIGHT

Due to the ban for aircraft to travel through Russian airspace, Cathay Pacific has had to divert its nonstop service between New York Airport and Hong Kong Airport, which has become the longest passenger route in terms of distance. It is operated using an Airbus A350-1000 aircraft.

The Cathay Pacific flight will now cross the Atlantic to fly over the United Kingdom, then to southern Europe, and across Central Asia to reach Hong Kong. Previously, the route went over the Arctic and over central Russia, which represented a distance of 12,990kms with a flight time of 15 hours. The new route will cover 19,123kms, placing it above Singapore Airlines' flight between New York and Singapore (17,662kms). However, Cathay Airlines' flight takes 17 hours against Singapore's 17 hours 30mins.

PLAN TO INCREASE FLIGHTS BETWEEN GUATEMALA AND MEXICO

The Mexican Ministry of Tourism has announced that 370,627 plane seats are scheduled from Guatemala to Mexico by 2022; 117% more than in 2021 (170,799 seats).

In 2021 travellers from Guatemala represented a tourism expenditure of UK£56 million in Mexico; an increase of 81.5% compared to 2020 figures. Central American tourists who arrived by air from Guatemala represented an increase of 60.5%, compared to the figures for 2020.

The main airlines that operated routes between Mexico and Guatemala in 2021 were Aeroméxico, Volaris and Transportes Aéreos Guatemaltecos (TAG Airlines), which together represented 97% of the offer, from January to December 2021.