A new airport in Tengchong, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, is expected to be in service at the end of 2008. According to Ding Wei, director of the leading group for the airport project, the early-stage work is underway and construction of the airport will begin in January and be completed at end of 2008.

The airport will be located at Tuofeng village, 12 kilometers from Tengchong County. A highway leading to the airport is being built with an investment of RMB62 million ($7.88 million) from the Tengchong government.

In memory of the Hump Route, an air route which contributed much to the victory in the west Yunnan theater during the war against Japan, Tengchong airport will be named ‘Hump Airport. The road to the airport will be named the ‘Flying Tigers Road’ in memory of the American pilots who flew the route.

Opened in 1942, the 500-mile Hump Route began in the southern Indian state of Assam, passed over the Himalayas and reached the southwest Chinese province of Sichuan. As the major air passage connecting China and the Allied Forces during the WWII, the hazardous Hump Route saw losses of over 500 Flying Tigers planes and the lives of more than 1,500 pilots from the US and Chinese air forces.

The total investment in the airport is to be around RMB430 million ($54.69 million). The major investors of the project are the Yunnan Airports Group, Yunnan Guangfang Group and Tengchong government who will contribute at a proportion 46 percent, 40 percent and 10 percent respectively.

Bordering Myanmar, Tengchong has many wonderful scenic spots in the western part of Yunnan Province. Some of the county’s major sites include a volcano, hot springs, Heshun Ancient Town as well as scenic landscapes at Gaoligong Mountain.

Last year the county received 2.3 million tourists, but most of them were visitors from within the province.