The Hangzhou International Airport in Xiaoshan district. [Photo/gmw.cn]

The preferential policy support, favorable development foreground, and friendly business environment of the Xiaoshan section of the Hangzhou Area in the China (Zhejiang) Free Trade Zone is attracting many projects and enterprises, Hangzhou Daily reported.

As the section is home to the Hangzhou International Airport, companies involved in the airport industry are seeing strong growth, and logistics giants Cainiao Network and YTO Express are accelerating the construction of cross-border e-commerce and smart logistics development bases, while agreements for 10 key projects involving duty-free goods, pediatric drugs, and university-industry cooperation with investment totaling 3.33 billion yuan ($490.51 million) have been signed.

Moreover, a number of projects are currently being built in the section, such as the Phase III expansion project of the Hangzhou International Airport, which will integrate aviation, high-speed rail, metro, and bus services, the official operation of the Loong Airlines maintenance base project, which offers a large aircraft maintenance hangar in Zhejiang province, and the capping of an international cargo terminal at the airport, marking a big step toward its goal of smooth operation in 2023.

The airport service capabilities of the Xiaoshan section have also been improved, as statistics show that in the first six months of this year, the passenger throughput of the Hangzhou International Airport reached 2.07 million, ranking sixth in China and first in East China. Air cargo throughput reached 399,600 metric tons, including 66,500 tons of cross-border goods.

Colorful lights are projected onto the painted plane for the Asian Games at the Loong Airlines maintenance base of the Hangzhou International Airport in Xiaoshan district on Aug 8. [Photo by Zhang Zhibing/hangzhou.com.cn]