The new Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport began operating yesterday as scheduled.

China Southern's CZ3932 made the first take-off at 7 am, journeying to Haikou, capital of South China's Hainan Province.

And an international flight with the tail number CZ328 from Los Angeles made the first stop at the new airport.

The area's old airport ceased operations when the last flight to Zhanjiang, a city in the south of Guangdong Province, took off right on time at 10:50 pm on Wednesday. That ended 72 years of service there.

The old airport handled 520 flights with 55,000 passengers on Wednesday.

According to Qi Yaoming, an executive of the Guangdong Airport Administration Group, the new airport had 555 flights arriving or departing on the first day of its official operation, entertaining 43,000 passengers.

(China Daily August 6, 2004)