Wuhan, China -- New Air Hub
According to the China Daily, Wuhan, China, has just been picked to become China's fourth air hub, along with Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. This means international flights will soon be able to go directly to Wuhan, without first stopping in Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou.
Domestic airlines will be also encouraged to set up branches in Wuhan. "Developing Wuhan into an air hub will not only support efforts to develop Central China, but also link the country's far-flung regions, easing access to western China's resources and market, said a government document."
Wuhan Tianhe Airport presently has only one runway and one terminal but is in the process of adding a second terminal and increasing capacity to handle 13 million passengers and 320,000 tons of cargo a year. These expansion projects are expected to be completed by the end of 2008.
This is likely to prove huge for Wuhan, giving it a real leg up over Chengdu and Chongqing for foreign direct investment (FDI).
Comments
This IS good news for lots of Japanese manufacturing companies. Air access is crucial and Wuhan has lots of manufacturing companies.
But Chengdu and Chongqing should increase air capacity as well....
Posted by: Susumu | December 27, 2006 12:26 PM
Does Wuhan have a large number of Japanese companies. I know Qingdao and Dalian and Yantai are known for that, but I did not know that about Wuhan. I was a bit surprised Wuhan has been annointed over Chengdu and Chongqing and it will be very interesting to see how all of this plays out. Will people fly internationally to Wuhan and then to Chengdu or Congqing, or will they continue going through Shanghai/Beijing/Shenzhen?
Posted by: China Law Blog | December 27, 2006 3:33 PM
Don't count out Chengdu and Chongqing solely based on their direct air routes, as their economies are going to be built not on being logistics hubs like (Wuhan and Xian) but on high technology and FMCG.
If interest, I have covered it all on All Roads through our recent city reports.
Happy holidays
Posted by: rbrubaker | December 28, 2006 1:21 AM
Rich --
Thanks for checking in. Here's my new question regarding every second tier Chinese city, because this is the question we are most asked right after we have set our clients up in the second tier city. Can you recommend a good English speaking accountant?
Can you do that for Chengdu?
BTW, is your internet working?
Posted by: China Law Blog | December 28, 2006 6:10 PM