Why does Suzhou, an economic powerhouse in Jiangsu, still have no civil airport?

Suzhou once had a civilian airport.

In February 1994, Suzhou Guangfu Airport, located in the town of Guangfu, Wuzhong District, Suzhou, went into operation. At that time, Guangfu Airport had 2 flights per week between Suzhou and Beijing, and between Suzhou and Foshan. However, Guangfu Airport is a military airport. It was not allowed to operate civil aviation transportation services, so it was closed after 8 years of operation.

Is the reason Suzhou hasn't built an airport until now because the population base isn't big enough?

Of course not.In 2019, Suzhou's resident population reached 10,749,900, ranking in the top 10 among the country's major cities. And the major cities ahead of Suzhou have their own airports. With Suzhou's active economy and frequent trade, many of the city's resident population are business people, making the airport more in demand.

Is it because Suzhou has no money in its coffers?

Apparently even less. According to the Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Statistics disclosure of the "Suzhou 2019 National Economic and Social Development Statistical Bulletin", Suzhou realized 222.18 billion yuan of general public **** budget revenue in 2019, of which 199.1 billion yuan was tax revenue. According to such financial strength, Suzhou to build a 4E grade airfield is not a matter at all.

Analysis, the reason why Suzhou delayed the construction of airports is nothing more than the following reasons:

One, there are enough airports in the surrounding areas of Suzhou.

As mentioned earlier, 20 kilometers away from Suzhou city, there is Wuxi Sunan Shuofang International Airport. It is very convenient for Suzhou citizens to travel to Wuxi Sunan Shuofang International Airport by car, which takes only ten minutes. As a matter of fact, taking a flight to Wuxi Sunan Shuofang International Airport is the first choice of many Suzhou citizens. In the first episode of the hit TV series "It's All Good," Su Mingzhe, the son of the Su family, rushes back to Suzhou from San Francisco in mourning, and his sister Su Mingyu is greeted at Wuxi Sunan Shuofang International Airport.

Besides Wuxi Sunan Shuofang International Airport, Suzhou residents can also fly to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport. It takes just over 40 minutes by train.

Two, the cost of building an airport in Suzhou is very high.

Suzhou's industry is very well developed, with eight state-level development zones, two state-level high-tech zones, plus more than a dozen international business districts, bonded zones, logistics parks and export processing zones. The city has a dense shopping district and a huge flow of people, making it a "land of gold".

Suzhou has an area of 8,657 square kilometers, but it's hard to find a suitable place to build an airport - if it's too far from the city, it might as well be Wuxi Sunan Shuofang International Airport. Even if it is barely found, it will face extremely high demolition and relocation costs.

Third, the construction of the airfield cycle is very long.

In accordance with the general idea, the construction of airports is a very simple thing: as long as there is a land, there is money, you can immediately start construction. In fact, the construction of airports to enter the national level of planning, from the inclusion of planning, project projects to the final start of construction, is a long process.

In this long process, but also involves all aspects of the interests of the game, at any time there may be a new situation, only to wait until the day of construction is considered to be the dust settled.

Now, the fact that Suzhou is not building an airport doesn't mean it won't build one later. In recent years, Suzhou, on the one hand, actively strive for the airport construction, into the national level of the relevant planning, on the other hand, and efforts to strive for Shanghai's third airport located in Suzhou, and to carry out a series of preliminary work. Maybe it won't be long before the people of Suzhou's "airport dream" will become a reality.