On April 10, the reporter learned from the Municipal Bureau of Commerce that the State Council recently approved the Yichang airport to expand the opening to foreign aircraft, which indicated that Yichang Three Gorges Airport would become the second international airport in Hubei Province after Wuhan Tianhe Airport, and would have a positive and far-reaching impact on the economic and social development of Yichang and even the Three Gorges region.

　　As a restrictive opening port approved by the State Council, the Three Gorges Airport was included in the 13th Five-Year Plan for National Port Development in 2016, and completed the annual trial plan of the national port opening last year.In the meantime, it has temporarily opened up foreign (regional) airlines, and has opened international (regional) chartered tourist flights to Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, etc., and the number of inbound and outbound tourists has increased year by year. In 2018, the international passenger throughput exceeded 50,000 passengers for the first time, setting a new high record since the opening of the air port, laying a solid foundation for the expansion of the air port of the Three Gorges Airport.

　　The extending opening up of the air port of the Three Gorges Airport has opened up an air expressway for Yichang and the world, which will help Yichang’s deepness cooperation with foreign countries and regions in trade, finance, science and technology, education and tourism. At the same time, it will also add new impetus to Yichang's industrial transformation and upgrading. Besides, relying on the location advantage of ports, convenient customs clearance and low-cost logistics services, it will effectively promote the rapid development of modern service industries such as tourism, import and export trade, e-commerce, warehousing and logistics. In the next step, Yichang will speed up the construction of relevant infrastructure in accordance with the requirements for the expansion and opening up of national ports, so as to pass the acceptance inspection in the national ports as soon s possible. (Reporter: Liu Yue)