On March 23rd, with a total investment of 977 million yuan, the second-phase renovation and expansion of Sanxia Airport starts in Xiaoting and it is expected to be formally put into use at the end of 2020. After the completion of the project, Sanxia Airport will be able to transport 5 million passengers annually, ranking among regional international aviation ports and becoming a driving force for the development of the airport industry in Yichang. ZhangJiasheng, deputysecretary ofYichangMunicipal Committee of the Communist Party of ChinaandmayorofYichang, announced the start of construction.

　　At the ground-breaking ceremony, Yuan Weidong, standing committee member of Yichang Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and managing deputy mayor, said that the start of the renovation and expansion signifies a significant step forward of the Three Gorges comprehensive transportation system and symbolizes a strong support for the construction of the Three Gorges Airport Economic Zone and even more a new stage of the strategic cooperation between Yichang government and HNA Group. Yichang government will work hard to establish a new type of "clean and amiable" business-to-politics relationship, make every effort to reduce burden on and cost of enterprises, address their difficulties and concerns, serve the construction of project with clear targets and fully support the projects of HNA Group in Yichang to become stronger and bigger.

　　Huang Qijun, member of board of directors of HNA Group and chairman of HNA Modern Logistics, said that HNA Group has developed multi-level cooperation with Yichang government. Projects, such as Hubei General Aviation Company, Three Gorges Aeronautical Tourism Institute and others, make great achievements. Yichang Sanxia Airport in particular has achieved impressive results. All achievements further strengthen the confidence and determination of HNA Group to invest more heavily in Yichang. It is hoped that, based on the new beginning of the renovation and expansion of Sanxia Airport, bilateral pragmatic cooperation in aviation, education, infrastructure and finance will be pushed ahead and achieve fruitful results so as to forge a new economic growth pole of airport industry in Yichang.

　　As a national first class aviation port and the second largest airport in Hubei province, Yichang Sanxia Airport has opened more than 30 domestic and foreign routes, basically realizing two-hour flight to major domestic cities and direct flight to Thailand, Vietnam, etc. In recent years, the volume of airport business has maintained rapid growth. The growth rate of passenger traffic in 2017 ranked among the top threeamong airports whose passenger traffic exceeded 2 million. A breakthrough has been made since passengers handled in 2017 reached 2.24 million.

　　To improve existing infrastructure and security level and meet the increasing demand of air travel, the municipal government and HNA Group will co-invest to extend the existing runway from 2600 meters to 3200 meters, build a new terminal of 25000 square meters, add the number of aircraft stand to 21 and construct a new parallel taxiway in the same length as the runway so as to make airplanes land two-way with the Instrument Landing System(ILS) and land safely and steadily guided by the "Precise Approach Navigation System" under the condition of poor weather and low visibility. When all this finishes, the grade in flight area will be upgraded from 4D to 4E, annual passengers to be transported will realize a great leap from 1.4 million to 5 million and long-distance international direct routes will be opened.

　　It is reported that Yichang Sanxia Airport has been awarded the first prize in the assessment of middle and small airports in central south China, the world's first "SKYTRAX four star airport" whose passenger traffic is less than 5 million and many other awards.

　　Liao Hongyu, chairman of HNA Airport Group, officials of the Yichang government Zhang Peng, Xu Wei and Secretary-General of Yichang municipal government Jiang Zhengxiong and others attended the ground-breaking ceremony.