China Eastern Airlines Corp will invest 352 million yuan (HK$399.84 million) in facilities at the new Hefei airport to tap growing demand for air traffic in the third-tier city.
The Shanghai-based airline will build maintenance, cargo terminal and catering service centres at Hefei Xinqiao Airport, which is being built in the capital of Anhui province.
The airport, which will handle domestic and international flights, will replace Luogang International Airport.
Luogang Airport is expected to handle more than three million passengers this year, up from more than two million in 2007 and one million in 2004, according to the airport's website.
By next year, Hefei Airport aims to handle 3.85 million passengers and increase the coverage of cities to 75 per cent from 45 per cent in 2005.
'Luogang Airport serves as a feeder airport to the major airports in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, since there is not much cargo demand from Anhui,' said Kelvin Lau, a transport analyst at Daiwa Securities SMBC.
