Hebei’s capital airport welcomed a new partner--Tianjin Airlines--on Tuesday, extending Shijiazhuang’s one-hour-flight coverage to nine major cities in the area, in an effort to build Shijiazhuang Airport into a regional hub in North China.

The nine cities include Qinhuangdao and Tangshan in Hebei, Dalian in Liaoning, Central Henan’s capital Zhengzhou, Qingdao and Yantai in Shandong, Erdos and Hohhot in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Tianjin Municipality.

Two important cities in Bohai Economic Zone, Shijiazhuang and Tianjin have signed a pact to speed up the regional integration process by further enhancing cooperation and exchanges in May, 2010.

The daily two-way Tianjin-Shijiazhuang-Yinchuan airline is carried by Tianjin Airlines. The ticket price is at least 150 yuan.

Shijiazhuang airport also plans to open branch lines to Beijing, Hebei’s Zhangjiakou and Chengde and other places in the next five years.

Source: chinadaily.com.cn