China Tests Two New Air fields in South China Sea

The number of airfields open to civil aircraft in the archipelago amounts to three

China successfully tested two new airfields on the Nansha Islands with civil flights， bring the number of airfields open to civil aircraft in the archipelago to three.

A flight took off from Haikou， capital of south Chinas Hainan Province， at 8：30 a.m. and landed on Meiji Reef two hours later， while another took off from Haikou at 8：40 a.m. and landed on Zhubi Reef at 10：28 a.m..

The two flights， an Airbus A319 chartered by China Southern Airlines and a Boeing 737 by Hainan Airlines， both returned to Haikou after a short stay on the reefs.

The round trips came one day after a Cessna CE-680 flew to the two reefs to ensure that both airfields are prepared for civil flights.

Including the airport on the Yongshu Reef opened in January， China now has three functioning airports on the Nansha Islands， which lie under one of the worlds busiest airspaces.

In addition to the airports， there are four multi-purpose lighthouses on Huay- ang， Chigua， Zhubi and Yongshu reefs， while the construction of a fifth on Meiji Reef is nearing completion， according to the Ministry of Transportation.

Two State-owned Travel Firms Merge to Form a Tourism Giant

The state assets supervisor said it has approved the merger of two stateowned travel operators that will lead to the formation of a tourism giant with combined assets worth over 120 billion yuan， or nearly US$18 billion.

The Beijing-based China International Travel Service Group Co. （CITS） will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of China National Travel Service （HK） Group Co. （HKCTS）， one of the top three travel companies in the country in terms of assets， the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission said on its website on July 11.This was followed by confirmations from the three listed companies involved， one under CITS and two under HKCTS， which released the news in their filings to the stock exchanges.

The share prices of the three companies， CITS Corporation Limited， CTS International Logistics Corporation Limited， and China Travel International Investment Hong Kong Limited all rose on July 12， by 1.35 percent， 0.38 percent， and 7.42 percent， respectively.

The two listed companies under HKCTS has assets worth more than 100 billion yuan， or five times that of CITS Corp， and the holding company has businesses in several industries including tourism， hospitality， food， property， logistics， finance， and power.