Wuxi wants to double its Airport’s passenger traffic by 2025, in trying to address its fundamental problem; why, for the city’s size, economic power and sphere of influence, especially on an international level, is its Airport at best an under performer?
无锡希望到 2025 年将机场客运量翻一番，以解决根本问题；为什么就城市规模、经济实力和影响力（尤其是在国际层面）而言，其机场充其量只是表现不佳？
That’s the embarrassing truth that has caused Sunan Shuofang International Airport in Wuxi to this year accelerate its embracing of neighbouring Suzhou, which has no civilian airport of its own.
正是这个尴尬的事实，让无锡苏南硕放国际机场今年加速拥抱邻国苏州，而苏州没有自己的民用机场。
That’s on account of the situation whereby the Airport’s passenger and cargo throughput is a very long way from matching the economic strength of its location.
这是因为机场的客货吞吐量与所在地的经济实力还有很大差距。
Wuxi’s GDP in 2022 was close on ¥1.5 trillion, just ¥200 million less than our provincial capital of Nanjing. Suzhou, on the other hand, is the economic juggernaut of Jiangsu, generating a GDP last year of ¥2.4 trillion.
2022年无锡的GDP接近1.5万亿元，仅比省会南京少2亿元。另一方面，苏州是江苏的经济巨头，去年的 GDP 达到 2.4 万亿元人民币。
Looking even further afield, the Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou area accounts for 70 percent of Jiangsu’s entire foreign trade. Therein, demand for import/export-aviation logistics has long outstripped supply.
再往远看，苏锡常地区占江苏整个对外贸易的70%。其中，进出口航空物流长期供不应求。
Based on all this evidential data, the annual throughput of Sunan Shuofang International Airport should be 18 million annually.
根据这些数据，苏南硕放国际机场的年吞吐量应为1800万人次。
But it is in fact yet to exceed 8 million.
但事实上还没有超过800万。
No wonder the airport wants a piece of the action out of Suzhou. There, out of 13 million residents with no airport, those looking to take to the skies have to make a choice. They might make the journey to Shanghai and take a flight out of Hongqiao, where there are bags of choices by way of destinations.
难怪机场想要从苏州分一杯羹。那里有 1300 万没有机场的居民，那些想要飞上天空的人必须做出选择。他们可能会前往上海，然后从虹桥起飞，那里有很多目的地可供选择。
Or they can head to Wuxi, where flights are, to put it delicately, a little more few and far between. While Hongqiao operates up to three flights every 5 minutes from 06:00 to 23:00 every day, Wuxi sees about one flight every 10 minutes.
或者他们也可以前往无锡，微妙地说，那里的航班数量少一些，而且间隔也远一些。虹桥每天 06:00 至 23:00 每 5 分钟运营多达 3 个航班，而无锡则每 10 分钟大约运营 1 个航班。
Therefore, in November last year, Wuxi and Suzhou signed that being termed a collaborative-development-strategic-cooperation agreement, as The Paper reported on 13 June. Today, we are already seeing the fruits of that effort.
据澎湃新闻6月13日报道，去年11月，无锡与苏州签署了一项协同开发战略合作协议。今天，我们已经看到了这一努力的成果。
Last month, a “Custom Airport Express” entered service, linking Sunan Shuofang with downtown Suzhou, offering 42 bus services per day and stops en route.
上个月，连接苏南硕放和苏州市中心的“定制机场快线”投入运营，每天提供42趟巴士服务并沿途停靠。
Then there was the opening of a Suzhou City terminal for the Airport, from where, following flight check-in procedures, it takes about 30 minutes for passengers to take a specially-customised route from Suzhou High-tech Zone to the airport.
随后，机场开通了苏州城市航站楼，旅客办理登机手续后，可从苏州高新区乘坐专门定制的航线约30分钟到达机场。
The post COVID era has also seen international flights on the up. In April, the Airport saw the resumption of its Wuxi-Osaka link after 3 years, while two more daily flights to Hong Kong and Macao were added to the roster in February.
后新冠时代国际航班数量也有所增加。 4月，机场时隔三年恢复无锡至大阪航线，并于2月新增两班每日飞往香港和澳门的航班。
On the infrastructure front, Sunan Shuofang began an expansion project at the start of this year. That’s essential to achieving that goal of reaching 15 million passengers each year, as well as 300,000 tons of cargo throughput by 2025.
在基础设施方面，苏南硕方今年年初启动了扩建项目。这对于实现到 2025 年每年旅客吞吐量达到 1500 万人次、货物吞吐量达到 30 万吨的目标至关重要。
It’s ambitious, but the idea has much muscle behind it. Zhao Jianjun, Mayor of Wuxi, is championing Sunan Shuofang’s synergy and integration with surrounding cities; while Wu Guoping, a Representative to the National People’s Congress, went as far as mentioning it during this year’s Two Sessions meetings.
这是雄心勃勃的，但这个想法背后有很多力量。无锡市市长赵建军倡导苏南硕放与周边城市协同融合；全国人大代表吴国平更是在今年两会期间提到了这一点。
That’s the kind of influence Sunan Shuofang International Airport is going to need if it is to take just 2 years to add another 7 million passengers to its yearly operations. And get out of its really-rather-longterm embarrassment.
如果苏南硕放国际机场要在短短两年内将年旅客吞吐量再增加 700 万人次，那么这正是苏南硕放国际机场所需要的影响力。并摆脱真正相当长期的尴尬。
