Since Guangzhou was approved to build a national airport economy demonstration zone in December last year, the construction work of the Guangzhou Airport Economy Innovation Zone has achieved great progress.  

From January to November this year, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport added a total of 87 destinations on its flight destination list, with its total flight destinations reaching 220, up by 11 percent year on year. In the 11 months, more than 40 projects with an investment value of over 70 billion yuan ($10.65 billion) started construction in the zone. 

A total of 43 projects started construction at Guangzhou Airport Economy Innovation Zone in October. [Photo/gzkg.gov.cn] 

According to Sun Xiuqing, director of Guangzhou Airport Economy Innovation Zone Management Committee, the airport economic industrial clusters have begun to emerge with considerable achievements having been accomplished in terms of aviation logistics industry, aircraft maintenance industry, cross-border ecommerce and aircraft financing leasing industry.

As of September this year, the total revenue for aircraft maintenance industry in the zone reached 2.3 billion yuan, an increase of 27 percent compared to the same period last year. Guangzhou Airport Economy Innovation Zone has become a key aircraft maintenance base in China and the business revenue for the whole year is expected to hit 3 billion yuan.

As of now, more than 1,000 cross-border ecommerce enterprises have settled at Guangzhou Airport Economy Innovation Zone, providing over 100,000 types of commodities. The gross value of import and export conducted from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport reached 2.9 billion yuan from January to October, up by 52 percent year on year.

Guangzhou Airport Economy Innovation Zone has also established sound systems for aircraft financing and leasing. As of November, a total of 16 aircrafts were leased in the zone with a contract value of $1.34 billion.

According to Sun, Guangzhou Airport Economy Innovation Zone will strengthen its efforts to promote innovation in land supply mode, and customs clearance services. They will also work diligently to provide development experience that can be promoted and used across the countries. Meanwhile, Guangzhou Airport Economy Innovation Zone will make full use of the World Routes 2018 which will be held in Guangzhou next year and strive to increase the global exposure of the zone.