At 21:10 on September 19, the flight GJ8216 from Yangyang-gun, South Korea, arrived at the Zhangjiajie Hehua International Airport. The flight carried 152 passengers, with a passenger load factor of 96%.

The operation of this flight marked that the international passenger air route between Zhangjiajie and Yangyang has been resumed. Hence, the air routes directly linking Zhangjiajie and South Korea increased to six, allowing travelers to fly from Zhangjiajie to six South Korean cities, namely Daegu, Busan, Muan, Cheongju, Inchon, and Yangyang.

The Zhangjiajie-Yangyang flight is operated by Loong Air on A320 aircraft, with 159 seats at maximum capacity. Between September 19 and October 26 this year, two round trips will be operated on every Thursday and Sunday. A single trip takes only three-and-a-half hours. In detail, the flight from Zhangjiajie to Yangyang, flight number GJ8215, sets off at 13:15, and arrives in Yangyang at 16:40; and, the return flight GJ 8216 takes off from Yangyang at 17:40, and lands in Zhangjiajie at 21:10 (All times are given in Beijing Time).

At present, the Zhangjiajie airport has launched air routes to 13 destinations in six countries and regions, namely South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Mongolia, Malaysia, and Hong Kong SAR. It operates more than 90 international passenger flights every week on average, including 60 flights to and from South Korea.

Since the beginning of this year, Zhangjiajie has seen a surging number of inbound foreign passengers. On the peak day, over 3,000 passengers passed through customs, and nearly 20 inbound and outbound flights were operated. As of September 18, the Zhangjiajie airport has handled 369,200 inbound and outbound passenger trips, making an increase of 223% year on year and exceeding the number of the peak year of 2019.