Harbin Taiping Airport, formerly known as Yanjiagang Airport, is located about 37 kilometres (23 mi) southwest of the city of Harbin and was constructed in 1979 with further expansion between 1994 and 1997 for $960 million RMB. It replaced the old Harbin Majiagou Airport (????????) that was originally built by the Japanese in 1931. In 1984, Taiping was upgraded to an international airport and initially starterd international flights to Russia. Today it serves as an important transportation hub for the northeastern region of China and is the largest airport serving Heilongjiang province. It is capable of handling 20 million passengers annually and currently has 97 destinations, 85 of which are domestic and 12 are international as of 2026. In 2013, Harbin Taiping International Airport handled 10 million passengers. It is the 23rd airport in China that reached 10 million passengers per year. In 2017, Harbin Taiping International Airport handled 18 million passengers, becoming the 21st busiest airport in mainland China. To handle the growing number of passengers, the new Terminal 2 opened on 30 April 2018. This terminal is for domestic flights only. All international flights were moved to the old terminal, about 1 mile north of Terminal 2, which is being redeveloped to handle international flights.