During the "two sessions", Cai Lixin, deputy of the National People's Congress and mayor of Huai'an, said the city set up a work leading group in 2018 to promote the development of the air cargo hub at the Huaihe River Ecological Economic Belt.

In recent years, Huai'an Lianshui Airport has showed rapid growth among small and medium-sized airports. In 2018, the airport handled 1.5 million passengers and over 6,000 tons of cargo and mail, a year-on-year growth of 25 percent for the later.

In October 2018, the State Council approved the "Huaihe River Ecological Economic Belt Development Plan," which determined Huai'an as an air cargo hub. Cai Lixin said that the airport will receive all-cargo planes in 2019 and local government regards it a priority to open all-cargo routes.

Huai'an is located at a strategic intersection for three development initiatives - the Grand Canal Cultural Belt, the Huaihe River Ecological Economic Belt and the Jianghuai Ecological Economic Zone. The city enjoys geographical advantages for economic growth and great development potential too. Cai Lixin said that Huai'an will seize the strategic opportunity to accelerate the construction of transportation network infrastructure, service platform and innovation system for developing a "hub economy", providing sustainable momentum for the city's high-quality development.

Source:jschina.com.cn