The cornerstone-laying ceremony for Xingyi Airport was held Thursday in Xingyi City in southwest China's Guizhou Province.

The airport will cover 153 ha of land in the Qianxinan Bouyei-Miao Autonomous Prefecture. The airport, with a 2,300 meter runway, will be able to accommodate 50-70 planes operating on feeder lines.

The project will cost 360 million yuan to build. It will open to traffic by 2003. In its initial period, with an estimated annual handling capacity of 86,000 passengers, the airport will be open for routes to Guiyang, Kunming and Nanning, capitals of Guizhou, Yunnan provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The Qianxinan Bouyei-Miao Autonomous Prefecture is the leading commerce and trade center bordering Yunnan, Guangxi and Guizhou. Operation of the airport will help boost regional economic growth.

(People’s Daily 12/28/2000)