A plane lands at Tonghua Airport. [Photo provided to gojilin.gov.cn]

Tonghua Airport, located in Tonghua, Northeast China's Jilin province, plans to open more air routes for the upcoming winter and spring, according to local media reports.

The airport has added three new routes – Tonghua-Qingdao, Tonghua-Dalian-Sanya, Xi'an-Tonghua-Harbin flights.

So far, Tonghua Airport has opened six air routes to nine domestic cities including Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Dalian, Shanghai, and Hangzhou, covering the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Yangtze River Delta, and Southeast China's coastal areas.

The opening of the new route provides new opportunities for cultural exchange, economic and trade exchange, market interaction, and resource-sharing in the regions.

A staff member at Tonghua Airport escorts a senior passenger on a snowy day. [Photo provided to gojilin.gov.cn]

Tonghua Airport officially opened in 2014.

Over the past seven years, the passenger throughput at the airport has continued to increase, from 77,578 in 2015, to 145,734 in 2019, and it is expected to reach 167,337 this year.

In early 2021, despite the COVID-19 epidemic, Tonghua Airport opened its first connecting flight, linking Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang province with Harbin in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province.

Tonghua Airport ranked first in Jilin province in the evaluation of the operational safety assurance capability of small and medium-sized airports conducted by the CAAC Northeast Regional Administration. The airport passed the assessment of air defense security capability conducted by the administration.

The first-phase terminal building of Tonghua Airport covers an area of 3,034 square meters, and the second-phase expansion project is currently underway, which will allow passengers to rest more comfortably after completion.