■China Economic Times reporter Tong Tong
Starting from 0:00 on September 5, the airspace optimization scheme of the east-west air traffic artery connecting the world-class airport cluster of the Yangtze River Delta in the mainland and the Kunming international hub was officially launched. The official opening of this high-profile Shanghai-Kunming air corridor marks the formal formation of the east-west air traffic artery connecting the world-class airport cluster in the Yangtze River Delta and the Kunming international hub.
Like the highway on the ground, there is also a "sky road" in the sky, and the opening of this air channel will make the "sky road" along the line wider, larger capacity, flight operation safety and flight efficiency will be further improved.
Shanghai-Kunming Channel, which runs through the east and west, connects the Yangtze River Delta and the southwest border of the important air corridor, from the economically prosperous Yangtze River Delta region in the east, to the beautiful spring city of Kunming in the west, a total length of more than 1,800 kilometers, along the way covering Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, Yunnan and other provinces, connecting Shanghai Hongqiao, Pudong, Hangzhou Xiaoshan, Nanchang Changbei, Changsha Huanghua, Guiyang Longdongbao, Kunming Changshui and other seven tens of millions of large airports, is an important air bridge connecting the east and west of the mainland.
The comprehensive launch of the airspace adjustment of the Shanghai-Kunming corridor is not only an important milestone in the development of the mainland's civil aviation industry, but also an important force to promote the coordinated development of regional economy and society. With the deepening of the adjustment work, the Shanghai-Kunming Corridor will further exert its strategic value and become an important air artery connecting the east and the west and connecting the north and the south, injecting new vitality into the sustainable and healthy development of the mainland's air transport industry.
In accordance with the idea of delineating the parallel and double lines of the Shanghai-Kunming air route, the Shanghai-Kunming air corridor implements a one-way parallel transformation of the H24 route, which is the busiest east-west route in the mainland, and expands the capacity from the original "single lane" to a "double lane" with one-way operation.
The main body of the scheme consists of two parallel routes, the eastern section adopts the flexible use of airspace to connect the Shanghai terminal area, and the west side is directly connected to the air entry and exit points of China-Myanmar and China-Laos through the newly opened connecting routes, and multi-point collusion realizes a new pattern of one-way circulation operation of the air backbone channel.
From Shanghai to Kunming, one end is the Yangtze River Delta region, one of the world's six major airport clusters, and the other is Yunnan Province, an important place in South Asia and Southeast Asia for the mainland's "Belt and Road" construction, which has long been one of the busiest shipping routes in the mainland. Due to the "large number of flights and narrow routes", it is imperative to expand the capacity of this "sky road".
In 2023, among the top 20 busy waypoints and flight sections in the country, 4 waypoints and 2 flight segments will be located on the Shanghai-Kunming route. Since 2022, the Air Traffic Management Bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration of China has begun to focus on promoting the construction of the Shanghai-Kunming Corridor.
After evaluation, after the implementation of the Shanghai-Kunming corridor, it will effectively improve the safe operation level of civil aviation. By reducing flight conflicts through one-way operation, the average daily traffic will be reduced by 23%, the average daily traffic of relevant waypoints will be reduced by 47%, and the average daily traffic of flight sections will be reduced by 56%, which will greatly alleviate the congestion of the route. According to the simulation evaluation, the route capacity of the Shanghai-Kunming corridor can be increased by about 32%.
The Shanghai-Kunming air corridor, which was officially opened on September 5, is an important part of the "10+3" air backbone corridor of our national civil aviation. The opening of the Shanghai-Kunming air corridor also marks the basic completion of the mainland's "10+3" air backbone corridor, and builds the basic structure of the national civil aviation route and route network.
The "10+3" air backbone corridor includes 10 air corridors, including Beijing-Kunming, Beijing-Guangzhou, Beijing-Shanghai, Shanghai-Guangzhou, Shanghai-Harbin, Shanghai-Kunming, China-South Korea, Shanghai-Lanzhou, Guanglan, and Shanghai-Rong, and three double lines from Chengdu to Lhasa, Shanghai to Fukuoka, and Lanzhou to Urumqi.
Up to now, Beijing-Kunming, Guanglan, Shanghai-Lanzhou, Shanghai-Harbin, Shanghai-Rong, China-South Korea, Beijing-Guangzhou, Shanghai-Kunming 8 air corridors have been completed and put into use. The average daily flight volume of civil aviation has also increased from 10,360 in 2013 to 19,000 in the summer of 2024.
At present, the air backbone channel network has achieved more than 70% of the country's regional trunk route network coverage. It will also strengthen the connection with the Asia-Pacific air route network, and give full play to the pivotal role of the mainland air route network in the Asia-Pacific air route network.
Yan Xiaodong, deputy director of the Air Traffic Management Bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration, said that the route network system has been further improved, which has strongly supported 83.4% of the country's flight increment. Based on the current trend of increasing flight volume, this plan can meet the demand for air transport in the next five years and adjust as needed to benefit more than 80% of the country's passenger travel.
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