The Eastern Base of the Flight Inspect Center of the CAAC, located in Tongzhou district, starts operating on Dec 28. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

The Eastern Base of the Flight Inspect Center of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, or CAAC – located at the Nantong Xingdong International Airport in Tongzhou district, Nantong, in East China's Jiangsu province – started operations on Dec 28.

In addition to the headquarters in Beijing, the Flight Inspection Center directly under the CAAC plans to construct four bases – Nantong in Jiangsu province, Zhuhai in South China's Guangdong province, Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan province and Urumqi in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The base in Nantong is the first one to go into operation.

Funded by the CAAC and constructed by the Flight Inspection Center, the Eastern Base was approved in 2018. Work on it started in October 2019, and in June 2021 it passed industry acceptance and professional engineering acceptance tests.

Covering some 11,000 square meters, the base is equipped with a parking apron, a dedicated hangar for maintenance and logistical support rooms.

The newly introduced Citation 560+ inspection aircraft, equipped with the world-leading CFIS Ⅲ flight inspections system with completely independent intellectual property rights, will be the main working horse of the flight inspection center.

After coming into operation, the base is able to rapidly provide inspection services for airports within a one-hour flight in the Yangtze River Delta region.

In addition to flight inspection services, the Eastern Base will also develop businesses such as general aviation aircraft maintenance and custody, consultations of inspection technology and a business jet service.