Beidaihe Airport opened on Thursday in Qinhuangdao city, an international summer sea resort in North China's Hebei province.[Photo/VCG]

SHIJIAZHUANG - A new airport opened on Thursday in Qinhuangdao city, an international summer sea resort in North China's Hebei province.

Beidaihe Airport has a 2,600-meter runway and can accommodate large and medium-sized aircraft. It is expected to cope with an annual passenger throughput of half a million by 2020.

Nearby Shanhaiguan Pass Airport, which had served both civilian and military aircraft since 1984, will now stop handling civilian aviation and turn to the development of general aviation industry.

Beidaihe airport, 47 km from Qinhuangdao, has 70 scheduled domestic flights each week. In the summer, international routes to Russia, the Republic of Korea and Japan will be opened.

Qinhuangdao was one of the country's first coastal cities opening up to the outside world. It hosts some 15 million tourists each year.