Qinhuangdao Shanhaiguan Airport is a military airport in
Qinhuangdao,
Hebei Province, China. It is located in
Shanhaiguan District, from the city center. From 1985 to 2016 Shanhaiguan Airport also served as the civilian airport for Qinhuangdao. On 31 March 2016, the newly built
Qinhuangdao Beidaihe Airport started operation and all civil flights were transferred to the new airport.
History
On 13 September 1971, Marshall
Lin Biao, China's Vice Premier and Minister of Defense, attempted to flee China in his
Hawker Siddeley Trident from Shanhaiguan Airport, allegedly following a failed coup attempt. The plane then crashed in Mongolia, killing all nine people on board, including Lin, his wife
Ye Qun, and their son
Lin Liguo
Lin Liguo (, December 23, 1945 – September 13, 1971) was the son of the Chinese Communist military leader Lin Biao and the person in charge of Project 571 Outline, a plotted coup against Mao Zedong.
Biography
Lin was born in 1945. He graduat ...
.
Shanhaiguan Airport was opened to civil flights on 15 April 1985.
During its three decades of operation, it operated flights to more than 20 Chinese cities. For a time starting in 2007, it temporarily operated international flights to
Yakutsk and
Blagoveshchensk in Russia. Throughout the thirty years the airport maintained a perfect safety record.
[
Although Shanhaiguan Airport was expanded in preparation for the ]2008 Beijing Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...
, its status as a military airport limited its potential for further growth.State Council State Council may refer to:
Government
* State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President
* State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative autho ...
in July 2009. Construction for the new airport officially began in April 2012, and was completed in 2016. On 31 March 2016, Beidaihe Airport started operation, and all civil flights were transferred to the new airport. Shanhaiguan Airport reverted to sole military use,[
]
Facilities
The airport has a single runway that is long (class 4C). It can handle mid-sized passenger jets such as the Boeing 737 and the Airbus 320. It has six aircraft parking aprons, and 200 car parking spaces.[
]
See also
* List of airports in China
* List of the busiest airports in China
* List of People's Liberation Army Air Force airbases
References
{{authority control
Airports in Hebei
Chinese Air Force bases
Buildings and structures in Qinhuangdao
Airports established in 1985
Defunct airports in China
1985 establishments in China