At 0:00 on August 12, Jiaodong International Airport was immediately put into a full-time operation. Qingdao officially started using the new airport.

Compared with Liuting International Airport, Jiaodong International Airport has a larger scale, with more than four times the size of the terminal and flight area. The number of runways has changed from one to two, and the number of stands has changed from 70 to 184. Jiaodong International Airport can accommodate more airlines and flights and serve more travelers from all directions.
 
Overlooking from a high altitude, it is the open posture of Qingdao that is finally fully extended.

1. A larger airport
 
Jiaodong International Airport is the only 4F-class airport in Shandong, which is also the highest class of airports. It has about 130 domestic destinations, and the air express connects to the core cities of the urban agglomeration of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and Chengdu-Chongqing, as well as important aviation hub cities in the central, western, and northeastern regions. The regional aviation operation network covers third- and fourth-tier cities. International and regional destinations include approximately 50 key cities in Japan, South Korea, Europe, America, Australia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
 
According to the plan, by 2025, Jiaodong International Airport can meet the support needs of 35 million passengers, 500,000 tons of cargo and mail, and 300,000 aircraft take-off and landing. Phase II is planned to meet the support needs of 55 million passengers, 1 million tons of cargo and mail, and 452,000 aircraft take-off and landing by 2045.
 
2. Greater openness
 
The airport is indeed farther away from the urban area, but it brings Qingdao closer to the world in the new development pattern.
 
Opening up is the top priority in building a new development pattern. Only by expanding opening up can Qingdao realize the deep integration of domestic and international markets, complete the connection of internal and external markets, share factor resources, and build the factor supply system, innovation supply system, production capacity system, and consumer market system required for China’s high-quality development on a global scale.
 
In the post-pandemic era, the opening opportunities for open cities come from identifying their positioning and anchoring open coordinates in the new development pattern.
 
3. Bigger dream
 
Dream to build a more convenient and smooth channel of global passenger flow and logistics, to make precise planning for the global industrial chain to a deeper degree, and to deeply integrate into the “Belt and Road” along the Yellow River based on the Jiaodong Peninsula...All in all, it is necessary to continue to expand opening-up. Opening-up is the core advantage of Qingdao. It’s important to maximize this advantage as much as possible, promote innovation with opening-up, and force reform with innovation.
 
The opening of Jiaodong International Airport is a key step in expanding the opening of Qingdao.
 
It is not only the opening up of Qingdao but also the opening up of the entire Jiaodong economic circle, the whole Shandong province, and the whole Yellow River basin. Jiaodong International Airport is located in the center of a T-shaped structure of “Rizhao - Weihai - Weifang”. It is a leading airport that is closer to Jiaodong economic circle, and it’s a highway in the air that deeply connects Jiaodong economic circle with Japan and South Korea. Based on northeast Asia, Qingdao also has a bigger and more complete airport, which can be used to accelerate the flow of passengers in northeast Asia. Qingdao is located in the center of Beijing, Shanghai, and Seoul, and it is also very convenient to fly to Tokyo. It is an aviation transfer station with a great location, and also a unique advantage of expanding opening-up.
 
Qingdao airport has put on bigger wings while building the international shipping center of Northeast Asia.