AS the new airports of the Pearl River Delta emerge, the race is on to attract passengers and secure international status.
But it will not be easy, given the closeness of the airports to one another. Beijing has approved airports for Shenzhen and Zhuhai, while Guangzhou's has yet to be given the go-ahead.
For the new Zhuhai Airport, which went into operation yesterday, the main concern is how to pay for and maintain high standards of service.
As a result, the Zhuhai Airport Group has set up a development management company to oversee leasing of 25 square kilometres of land the government has earmarked for converting to an 'aerotropolis'.
The object is to set up a flow of funds to back operation of the 1.9 billion yuan (about HK$1.76 billion) airport.
Four sq km of the 10 sq km start-up area will be available for lease to foreign investors and developers.
