SHENYANG, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Shenyang general aviation industry base in Liaoning Province launched a 5G base station Tuesday, making it the first 5G-covered general aviation airport in northeast China.

The base station was built by China Unicom's Shenyang branch. A single 5G base station is able to handle a downlink of at least 20Gbps and an uplink of 10Gbps, around 10 times the speed of the current 4G network, according to tests.

The 5G network in the industry base will be mainly used by aviation firms to conduct flight tests and research and development, and support the development of the unmanned system in the industry base.

The Shenyang general aviation industry base was built in 2010 in Faku County. It has built facilities such as runways, terminals and parking aprons, attracting more than 30 aviation firms.

Wang Huanmiao, Party secretary of Faku County, said the industry base will build a national drone testing center, a drone-related big data center, and a 5G air traffic control center in the future.

Chinese airports are adopting the 5G network to meet public demand. In late January, the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in south China's Guangdong Province launched a 5G base station.