QINGDAO airport is positioned to be a regional hub airport on the Shandong Peninsula in the near future to boost the area’s economic development, an airport spokesman told a news conference.

    By 2025, the airport will have 22 more international air routes. Another five new airlines will open counters at the airport. The number of planes parked at the airport overnight will increase from 15 to 60.

    The throughput of the airport in 2025 will be 30 million passengers.

    By 2040, the airport will reach an annual throughput of 50 million passengers and accommodate 100 planes parking overnight.

    The airport now has 84 domestic air routes and 11 international routes flying to 47 Chinese destinations, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, and seven cities abroad.

    There are about 2,400 flights departing or arriving at the airport each week and the annual throughput is about 10 million passengers.

    Qingdao airport is now an important transit point for flights from the Chinese mainland to South Korea and Japan and a hub in East China.

    (Chen Ting, Sun Lulu)