Shenzhen Airlines will Wednesday open a new base at Shuofang Airport in Wuxi, in eastern China.

An opening ceremony will culminate in the departure of a Boeing 737 bound for Beijing at 11 am.

Shenzhen Airlines is a shareholder and manager of the airport.

Dong Lijia, general manager of Shenzhen Airlines, said the establishment of the base meant that his company has realized its strategy of breaking into the Yangtze River Delta market.

Wuxi is the company's second base outside its Shenzhen headquarters.

The first outside Shenzhen was set up in Nanning, Guangxi, in 2002.

The company will operate flights from Wuxi to six Chinese cities including Beijing and Shenzhen this year.

"We now have three aircraft at the Wuxi base. By 2005 we'll have five to six planes there," said Dong.

(Shenzhen Daily February 18, 2004)