SINGAPORE—China’s Wenzhou Longwan airport (WNZ) has commenced the third phase of its expansion project, which includes the building of an aircraft dismantling facility and a regional air cargo distribution center for Chinese freight carrier SF Express.
The Wenzhou Airport Aircraft Modification and Dismantling Base will provide the region with aircraft lifecycle handling services, including the scrapping of aircraft and recycling of parts. The facility will have two dismantling lines, capable of handling six medium to large-sized aircraft annually and generating an output value of around CNY300 million ($42 million) and revenue of CNY30 million.
Separately, Airbus, in collaboration with Chengdu city government and Tarmac Aerosave, will also open a similar lifecycle service center in Chengdu—located 1,250 mi. inland from Wenzhou, which is on China’s east coast—by the end of 2023.
As part of the WNZ expansion program, SF Express— China’s largest air freight company—will construct the 30,000-m2 (323,000-ft.2) SF Express Southern Zhejiang Regional Aviation Distribution Center. The facility will be based at WNZ and be able to handle 5,000 pieces of cargo per hour, the company says. It is expected to strengthen SF Express’ freighter network as well as Wenzhou’s air cargo capabilities.
No timeline has been given for the completion of either project.
CAPA – Centre for Aviation and OAG Schedules Analyser data shows WNZ serves 71 domestic cities, six Asia-Pacific destinations and two Italian cities—Milan and Rome. The vast majority of WNZ’s cargo movements—95.5%—are within China, with the remaining 4.5% traveling overseas, primarily to Italy.
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