Ningbo Lishe International Airport (IATA: NGB, ICAO: ZSNB) (simplified Chinese: 宁波栎社国际机场; pinyin: Níngbō Lìshè Guójì Jīchǎng) is the principal airport serving Ningbo, a major city in the Yangtze River Delta region and the 2nd largest city in the province of Zhejiang.

In 2008, the airport handled 3,574,352 passengers, ranking 30th in China. Ningbo airport was also the 26th busiest airport in China in terms of cargo traffic.

History

Ningbo's first airport was opened for civil service on November 16, 1984 when a CAAC Antonov AN-24 aircraft landed at a military airfield (宁波庄桥军用机场) in Ningbo

In 1985, the Central Government approved the construction of Ningbo Lishe Airport. On June 30, 1990, the new airport opened for service and became the first civil only airport in Zhejiang. The construction cost of the airport was RMB 126 million.

In July 1992, the airport opened for international service and the first international service was opened to Hong Kong later the same year. In November 1998, service to Macau with onward code-share connection to Taipei and Kaohsiung started. International cargo flights also started by the end of 1998.

In March 1997, Great Wall Airlines established a hub at the airport. Currently, the airport has services to 38 domestic destinations in China and also external services to Hong Kong, Seoul, and Macau. It is currently served by 16 airlines.

The airport was renamed Ningbo Lishe International Airport from Ningbo Lishe Airport on November 29, 2005.

Growth

The airport is one of the fastest growing airport in China. In 1992, 286,021 passengers and 4,064 tons of cargo passed through the airport. In 2002, the figures grew to 1.28 million passengers and over 20,000 tons of cargo. Annual growth rate is 17.8% and 19.8% for passenger traffic and cargo traffic respectively.

In 2004, the airport handled 1.85 million passengers and 34,800 tons of cargo and it is expected to handle 2.3 million passengers and 52,000 tons of cargo in 2008.

Foreign investment

The airport's operator signed a strategic partnership agreement on June 10, 2005 with Fraport, the operator of Frankfurt Airport under which it will sell a 25% stake to the German airport operator.

Facilities

A new passenger terminal was opened on October 8, 2002 at a construction cost of RMB 770 million. The new terminal has an annual capacity of 3.8 million passengers. It can handle 1,700 passengers at maximum per hour. The departure lounge occupies 43,500 m². in area. The new apron occupies an area of 87,000 m². The new terminal also has 16 departure gates and 7 jetways. The new parking facility associated has 360 parking spaces.

Transportation

There are limousine airport buses operated by various operators to downtown Ningbo every hour. There are also airport buses to prefectures further away near Ningbo with a less frequency.

Airlines and destinations

Note: Flights to and from Hong Kong are treated as international flights. Also treated as international flights are the cross-strait flights that carry passengers between China and Taiwan.

The content above was published at Airports-Worldwide.com in 2010.
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