An airport being built on the Chinese island province of Hainan to serve the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference has begun a period of trial operation encompassing this year's event.

Construction of the Boao Airport began on March 19 last year and it was scheduled to be operational before the 2017 BFA Annual Conference.

This year's edition will be held between March 22 and 25, gathering state leaders, government officials, businessmen and academics from across Asia.

A Boeing 737 from Hainan Airlines left Beijing and arrived at the airport at noon on Thursday, marking the beginning of a trial that will see five domestic airlines provide flights linking Boao with Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Kunming, Chongqing and Guiyang until March 26.

The airport management said it would formally open in May.

It is located in Qionghai City, about 15 km from the BFA conference center.

The airport has a projected cost of 1.13 billion yuan (173.8 million U.S. dollars), and it is designed to handle 4,950 flights, or 480,000 passengers and 1,440 tonnes of cargo, annually.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)