A plane flies by the new tower at Haikou Meilan International Airport on Nov 19, 2021. [Photo/VCG]

On Nov 20, the new tower of Haikou Meilan International Airport was officially put into use. It will be responsible for managing the airport's two runways.

The new tower is 108 meters tall, nearly 42 meters taller than the original tower, thus greatly improving visibility. The radio signal is also unobstructed and has better coverage.

The new tower has a total of 22 floors. The control room is located on the 22nd floor and is a 360-degree panoramic structure. It acts as the "brain" of the airport, and is the information interaction center for flight command.

The tower will increase the capacity and operation efficiency of flights, allow for a flight to take off or land every two minutes, and provide safe and reliable air traffic control protection for the second phase of Meilan Airport.

The new tower is able to meet the demands of the airport's planned throughput of 35 million passengers and annual cargo and mail throughput of 400,000 metric tons by 2025, and will also benefit the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port.