High-end industry powers economic growth in southern metropolis

Guangzhou Airport Economic Zone has established a strong position in high-end aircraft maintenance in China.

The airport industry in Guangzhou served as a new engine for the city's economic developments and has contributed nearly 7 billion yuan ($1.02 billion) in tax revenue accumulatively from 2014 to 2017, with an annual growth of 17.8 percent per year on average, according to official figures.

As one of China's 12 pilot zones for the airport industry, the Guangzhou Airport Economic Zone has so far established five high-end airport industrial clusters for aircraft maintenance and passenger aircraft conversion to cargo aircraft, aviation logistics, aviation headquarters business, airport cross-border e-commerce and aircraft leasing.

The Guangzhou municipal government issued a three-year action plan from 2017 to 2019 to promote the construction of the city's international aviation hub and airport economy.

A total of 43 projects were signed and started construction in 2017, with an aggregate investment of more than 70 billion yuan.

Boeing and Airbus, the top two aircraft makers, both settled their passenger-to-cargo aircraft projects in the zone, making it the country's largest maintenance center for aircraft and the largest base for converting passenger aircraft into cargo aircraft, according to local officials.

Statistics from officials show that the maintenance business earned 3.13 billion yuan in 2017, representing an increase of 17.7 percent from a year before and up 1 billion yuan from that of 2014.

Meanwhile, a group of domestic and foreign logistic giants, including FedEx, DHL and SF have set up companies or logistics bases inside the zone, making it one of the largest airport logistics centers in China.

Imports and exports rose nearly 28 percent year-on-year to 16.6 billion yuan in 2017, maintaining a double-digit growth over the past few years, according to figures provided by the zone.

E-commerce in the airport economic zone also recorded strong growth. Imports and exports of cross-border e-commerce products surged more than 50 per cent to reach 3.7 billion yuan, according to official figures.

China Southern Airlines, one of the biggest airlines in Asia by fleet, which is headquartered at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, has continued to increase its air capacity in the countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, said Wu Guoxiang, senior vice-president of Marketing and Sales Division of the carrier.

The airline has just opened new international routes including Guangzhou-Da nang, Guangzhou-Rome, Guangzhou-Sanya-London and Guangzhou-Lahore.

Twelve new destinations have been added this year, and Baiyun airport's route network now covers 48 cities in 29 countries involved in BRI, which give the airport industry a big boost, Wu said.