A new airport began service on October 29, 2017 in Songyuan, a city well known for a centuries-old tradition of ice-fishing, in northeast China's Jilin Province.
New air routes linking Songyuan with Beijing, Shanghai and Qingdao were launched the same day, with more destinations to be added soon.
Preparations for the airport began in 2008, and construction officially started in July 2015. Covering an area of 190 hectares, the airport is designed to handle 400,000 passengers and 2,000 tonnes of cargo and mails annually by 2020.
The airport, only 27 kilometers from Chagan Lake Nature Reserve, is expected to help boost the local tourism industry. Every winter, tens of thousands of tourists come to the ice-covered lake, one of the biggest freshwater lakes in the country, to watch fishermen use traditional ice-fishing techniques dating back nearly 2,000 years.