A new airport in northwest China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region will open its first regular civilian flights this month.

Flights linking Kashgar and Shihezi in Xinjiang, and Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province, will begin on February 22, according to a statement from the Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport earlier this week.

Shihezi airport, which opened in December, was the first civilian airport built by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, an economic and semi-military organization stationed in Xinjiang.

A China Southern Airlines Boeing B737 will make four round-trips each week.

(Xinhua News Agency February 12, 2016)