Wenzhou airport project headquarters established

The headquarters for the Wenzhou Yongqiang Airport expansion project, where the first meeting of the coordination group was also held, was established on May 29.
It was disclosed at the meeting that the land for the airport expansion project was approved by the Zhejiang provincial land administrative department. The details were sent to the Ministry of Land and Resources for examination, with the expansion project due to start at the end of the year. The expansion project was included in April 2007 by the National Development and Reform Commission, with a total of RMB 1 billion allotted for the project. Under the plan, a new runway will be built east of the current runway that is 3,200 meters long and 45 meters wide, with a 7.5 meter-wide shoulder at each side of the runway. The current runway will be extended by 800 meters and retrofitted as a parallel taxiway. The requisition of land includes 12 villages on Haibin and Yongxing Streets in Longwan District, Wenzhou. Upon completion, the airport will be twice as big and will accommodate the landings and takeoffs of large aircraft such as the B747 and A340. The expansion project is estimated to handle an annual domestic passenger volume of six million and an international passenger volume of 300,000 by 2010. According to the Wenzhou government, the airport is designed as a medium hub airport. The expansion project is expected to be finished by the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan.