Guangxi's first general aviation airport project — the Guilin Xing'an Aircraft Takeoff and Landing Field — has officially begun construction. This is another major project in the building of Guilin as an international tourist destination.

On the morning of December 24, the airport feasibility-study-stage flight operations review meeting of Guangxi Zhanzhuo General Aviation Co., Ltd. was held at the Conference Center of Guilin Ronghu Hotel. Relevant experts from the Operations Department of the Guangzhou Air Force, the Air Traffic Control Division, the Guilin Station of the Nanning Base of the Guangzhou Air Force, the Nanning Air Traffic Management Bureau, the Flight Operations Division of the Civil Aviation Administration of China Central and Southern Regional Administration, the Guilin Regulatory Bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration of China Central and Southern Regional Administration, and the Guilin Air Traffic Management Station of the Civil Aviation Administration of China Air Traffic Management Bureau carefully discussed and reviewed the construction procedures for the Guilin Xing'an Aircraft Takeoff and Landing Field and unanimously approved them, confirming that construction of the field would officially begin on December 25.

According to Yang Haolei, general manager of Guangxi Zhanzhuo General Aviation Co., Ltd., the project covers about 2,300 mu of land, with a total investment of about 3 billion yuan. Of this, 700 million yuan is planned for the construction of one 1,200-meter runway and one 800-meter runway, one 500-meter taxiway, and 20 hangars. Using the existing large concrete platform, the project is expected to conduct route test flights before the Spring Festival in 2014 and begin trial operations in March 2014. The general aviation airport will make full use of the company's several high-end helicopters and small fixed-wing aircraft to take the lead in building a tourism aviation network in Guangxi, allowing tourists to fully enjoy the wonderful experience of viewing the Li River and the beautiful landscapes of greater Guilin from the air.

Yang Haolei said that after the project is completed, it is expected to receive more than 1 million tourists per year. It will not only greatly promote the development of the local aviation tourism economy, the tertiary industry, and comprehensive support services for private aircraft, but also help boost employment and the government's emergency response capabilities.