Remote county reached by regular flight

A flight connecting Qiemo, in a far-flung corner of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, and Urumqi, the regional capital, was launched on Monday.

Operated by China Southern Airlines, the service departs Urumqi every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and stops in Korla city before arriving at Qiemo.

It is the first civilian flight to serve the area since the last passenger plane left the old Qiemo airport five years ago, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China's regional administration in Xinjiang.

The new airport has the capacity to handle 120,000 passengers and 480 metric tones of cargo per year. The flight will receive state subsidies of about 7 million yuan ($1 million) annually.

Qiemo is more than 1,100 kilometers from Urumqi, and 720 km from Korla. The flight will cut travel times between Qiemo and Urumqi to 2.5 hours, from 15 hours by road.

- xinhua

(China Daily USA 12/23/2016 page5)