Yantai Laishan Airport is a military airport in

Yantai Yantai, Postal Map Romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of ...

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

, China. It formerly also served as the civil airport of Yantai, until it was replaced by

Yantai Penglai International Airport Yantai Penglai International Airport is an airport serving the city of Yantai in Shandong Province, China. It is located from the city center, near the town of Chaoshui in Penglai, a county-level city administered by Yantai. Construction of ...

which was opened on 28 May 2015. It is about from the city center and covers an area over . Laishan Airport was originally a military airport operated by the

People's Liberation Army Navy The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN; ), also known as the People's Navy, Chinese Navy, or PLA Navy, is the maritime service branch of the People's Liberation Army. The PLAN traces its lineage to naval units fighting during the Chinese ...

. In June 1984, the Chinese government and Central Military Commission agreed to open the airport to civil flights, which began operation in October 1984 with flights to

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. On October 24, 1986, PLAAF pilot Zheng Caitian flew his Shenyang J-6 from Laishan airport to Seoul Air Base and when he reached Taiwan. During the 31 years of its commercial operation, traffic grew significantly, and the airport served flights between Yantai and more than 70 Chinese cities, as well as several international destinations including

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

and

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. As the existing facilities could not meet the growing demands of the city, the Yantai government began construction of Penglai International Airport in September 2011. In 2014, its last full year as a civil airport, Laishan served more than four million passengers.

References

{{authority control Airports in Shandong Defunct airports in China Airports established in 1984 1984 establishments in China Chinese Air Force bases Yantai Airports disestablished in 2015

See also

References