Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport (; traditionally as Chengdu Airport) is one of two

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

s serving

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

, the capital of

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

province in

Southwestern China Southwestern China () is a region in the People's Republic of China. It consists of five provincial administrative regions, namely Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Xizang. Geography Southwestern China is a rugged and mountainous region, ...

, with the other being

Chengdu Tianfu International Airport Chengdu Tianfu International Airport (; also known as Tianfu Airport) is one of two international airports serving Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province in Southwestern China. It was planned in 2013 and opened in 2021 as Chengdu Shuangliu I ...

. Built in 1938 and expanded eight times since, it is one of the oldest airports in China. Located about southwest of downtown Chengdu to the north of Shuangliu, Chengdu Shuangliu Airport is an important aviation hub for

Western China Western China ( zh, s=中国西部, l=, labels=no or zh, s=华西, l=, labels=no) is the west of China. It consists of Southwestern China and Northwestern China. In the definition of the Chinese government, Western China covers six provinces ...

. It is one of the two core hubs for

Air China Air China, officially Air China Limited, ( zh, s=中国国际航空公司, labels=no, ''Zhōngguó guójì hángkōng gōngsī'') is a major Chinese airline and the flag carrier of the People's Republic of China. It is headquartered in Shunyi ...

, the other being

Beijing Capital International Airport Beijing Capital International Airport is the busier of the two international airports serving Beijing, the capital city of China (the other one being Beijing Daxing International Airport). The airport is located northeast of downtown Beijing ...

. The airport is also the principal hub and headquarters for

Sichuan Airlines Sichuan Airlines is the largest airline in Western China, headquartered in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The airline is based in Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, operating mainly scheduled domestic and international flights out of Chengdu ...

and

Chengdu Airlines Chengdu Airlines is an airline headquartered in Shuangliu, Chengdu, Sichuan, China. A subsidiary of Sichuan Airlines, it operates a network of scheduled domestic passenger flights out of its hub at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport and C ...

China Eastern Airlines China Eastern Airlines (branded as China Eastern) is a major airline in China, headquartered in Changning, Shanghai, Changning, Shanghai. It is one of the three major airlines in the country, along with Air China and China Southern Airlines. ...

China Southern Airlines China Southern Airlines (branded as China Southern) is a major airline in China, headquartered in Guangzhou, Guangdong. It is one of the three major airlines in the country, along with Air China and China Eastern Airlines. Established on 1 ...

Shenzhen Airlines Shenzhen Airlines is an airline headquartered in Bao'an, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It is based in Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport. It has been a member of Star Alliance since 2012, and is currently one of two Chinese airlines that ...

Lucky Air Lucky Air () is a Chinese low-cost airline based in Kunming, Yunnan, China. The airline started with flights connecting Kunming with Dali and Xishuangbanna, and later expanded to other domestic and international destinations. Its main base i ...

, and

Tibet Airlines Tibet Airlines (; , abbreviated ) is an airline with its corporate headquarters and registered office in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, and operates scheduled domestic flights out of Lhasa Gonggar Airport and Chengdu Shuangliu International Air ...

also have bases at Chengdu Shuangliu Airport.

History

Republican era

The airport, formerly named Shuangguisi Airport, opened as a military-owned airport in 1938 during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

, a major theater of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. At the time, its runway was only large enough for small biplanes. It was also where the

Republic of China Air Force The Republic of China Air Force ( Chinese, 中華民國空軍), or the ROCAF; known colloquially as the Taiwanese Air Force ( Chinese, 臺灣空軍) by Western or mainland Chinese media, or commonly referred as the National Military Air Force ...

Polikarpov I-15 The Polikarpov I-15 () was a Soviet biplane fighter aircraft of the 1930s. Nicknamed ''Chaika'' (', "gull") because of its gulled upper wings,Gunston 1995, p. 299.Green and Swanborough 1979, p. 10. it was operated in large numbers by the Soviet ...

fighters of the

5th Pursuit Group The 5th Pursuit Group was an Air Service, United States Army unit that was assigned to the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. It was demobilized in Germany after serving with the Third Army Air Service as part of the American Occu ...

were based to defend the Chengdu area against Imperial Japanese bomber raids; this following the Chinese retreat from

Wuhan Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

Chungking Chongqing Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the Central People's Government, along with Beijing ...

(now Chongqing) as the new

provisional capital A temporary capital or a provisional capital is a city or town chosen by a government as an interim base of operations due to some difficulty in retaining or establishing control of a different metropolitan area. The most common circumstances leadi ...

in aftermath of the

Battle of Wuhan The Battle of Wuhan (; ), popularly known to the Chinese as the Defence of Wuhan (), and to the Japanese as the Capture of Wuhan, was a large-scale battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Engagements took place across vast areas of Anhui, Henan ...

against the Imperial Japanese onslaught. Civilian targets were indiscriminately bombed, and ace fighter pilot of the Chinese Air Force Major Wong Sun-shui, Captain

Cen Zeliu Cen Zeliu (; 1912–1941), also Shum Tsak-lau ''(Cantonese),'' was born in Enping, Guangdong, China. He trained at the Guangdong provincial aviation academy as a fighter pilot, graduating in 1934, and was attached to the provincial warlord air ...

and Lieutenant Lin Heng (younger brother of renowned architect and poet

Lin Huiyin Lin Huiyin ( zh, c=林徽因, born 林徽音, p=Lín Huīyīn; 10 June 1904 – 1 April 1955; known as Phyllis Whei Yin Lin when studying in the United States) was a Chinese architect, writer, and poet. She is known to be the first female architec ...

) flying in their I-15 fighter planes were all killed over Shuangliu air base as a result of battling against the most advanced fighter aircraft of the time; the Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" (Reisen) fighter, in defense of Chengdu on 14 March 1941. When the United States was shocked into

with the

Pearl Harbor attack The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. At the ti ...

, the airport became known as "Shwangliu Airfield" as it was later used by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

Fourteenth Air Force The Fourteenth Air Force (14 AF; Air Forces Strategic) was a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). It was headquartered at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The command was responsible for the organizatio ...

as part of the China Defensive Campaign (1942–1945). It was used as a fighter base by the

33d Fighter Group ''033'' or ''Zero Three Three'' is a 2010 Bengali film directed by Birsa Dasgupta in a directorial debut and produced by Moxie Entertainments. It stars Rudranil Ghosh and Parambrato Chattopadhyay. 033 is the STD code for Kolkata city, and the s ...

, which flew

P-47 Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter, and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bombe ...

fighter-bombers from the airport in 1944 to support Chinese ground forces, and also by reconnaissance units that operated camera-equipped

P-38 Lightning The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinc ...

s that located Japanese forces and provided intelligence to the fighter-bombers. The Americans closed their facilities at Shwangliu Airfield at the end of August 1945.

People's Republic era

On 12 December 1956, the Shuangguisi Airport was put under civil aviation, which was then formally listed as a civil aviation airport and renamed Chengdu Shuangliu Airport. In 1957, the flights of Chengdu civil aviation were shifted to Shuangliu Airport from Guanghan Airport. The flight courses from Chengdu were thus opened to various cities within China including Beijing,

Taiyuan Taiyuan; Mandarin pronunciation: (Jin Chinese, Taiyuan Jin: /tʰai˦˥ ye˩˩/) is the capital of Shanxi, China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. It is an industrial base foc ...

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

Kunming Kunming is the capital and largest city of the province of Yunnan in China. The political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province, Kunming is also the seat of the provincial government. During World War II, Kunming was a Ch ...

Guiyang Guiyang; Mandarin pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, alternatively as Kweiyang is the capital of Guizhou, Guizhou province in China. It is centrally located within the province, on the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, eastern part of the Yun ...

, and

Nanchong Nanchong ( zh, c=南充 , p=Nánchōng , w=Nan-ch'ung; Sichuanese: lan2cong1) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of Sichuan province, China, with an area of . At the 2020 census it was home to 5,607,565 people, of whom 1,936,534 liv ...

Current status

A large-scale expansion was conducted on flight area and navigation area from 1994 to 2001. The runway was extended to with Class 4E rating, allowing for larger jumbo jets including the

Boeing 747-400 The Boeing 747-400 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, an advanced variant of the initial Boeing 747. The ''Advanced Series 300'' was announced at the September 1984 Farnborough Airshow, target ...

. The newly built terminal building was incorporated with a three-parallel-porch design, accommodating an hourly capacity of 3,500 passengers during rush hours, while the previous terminal building was only designated for regional flights within

and

. The airport is now an international civil airport with flights to more than 50 international destinations and over 170 domestic airports, and is a hub for

and

. It is linked to downtown Chengdu by the Airport Expressway, the Chengdu–Mianyang–Leshan intercity railway and the newly built

Chengdu Metro The Chengdu Metro is the rapid transit system of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, China. With the opening of Line 1 on 27 September 2010, the system has fifteen subway lines and one light rail line. It has subsequently undergone rapid expansion. ...

line 10 which has stations in both terminals.

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, or simply KLM (an abbreviation for their official name Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. , ),

launched the first intercontinental air route from Chengdu, to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, on 28 May 2006. The construction of its second runway started from late 2008, and service commenced in December 2009. The completed new runway, in length and in width, upgraded the previous flight area rating from 4E to 4F, capable of handling the

Airbus A380 The Airbus A380 is a very large wide-body airliner, developed and produced by Airbus until 2021. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and the only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the pr ...

. On 9 June 2014,

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois that operates an extensive domestic and international route network across the United States and six ...

began operating a nonstop service from

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

to Chengdu, connecting central China to the United States non-stop for the first time. Service to the US has since expanded, as

Hainan Airlines Hainan Airlines is an airline headquartered in Haikou, Hainan, China. It is the largest civilian-run enterprise, civilian-run and majority State ownership, state-owned air transport company, making it the fourth-largest airline in terms of flee ...

now offers nonstop service from Chengdu to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and began nonstop service to New York–JFK in October 2017. With the opening of

on 27 June 2021, it is planned for most international and cargo routes to be moved away from Shuangliu Airport, which is to mainly operate domestic flights going forward. Terminal 2 of Chengdu Shuangliu Airport

Terminal 1 Airside of Chengdu Shuangliu Airport

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

201908 Terminal 1 of Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport

Other facilities

China Southwest Airlines China Southwest Airlines () was a Civil aviation, civil airline headquartered in Shuangliu, Chengdu, Shuangliu, Chengdu, Sichuan, China, from 1987 to 2002. It was merged into Air China in October 2002. History China Southwest Airlines was estab ...

once had its headquarters on the airport property."World Airline Directory." ''

Flight International ''Flight International'', formerly ''Flight'', is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", i ...

''. 1–7 April 1998
57
"Shuangliu Airport, Chengdu, 610202, Sichuan, China"

Statistics

Ground transportation

Airport buses

Entrance C of Terminal 2 of Shuangliu International Airport Station

* Airport Bus No. 1, Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport – City Centre (Minshan Hotel, Section 2 of Renmin Road South, Metro station of Jinjiang Hotel); single ticket: ¥10. * Airport Bus No. 2, Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport –

Chengdu railway station Chengdu railway station () is a major railway station in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. The station is located on North Second Ring Road, Jinniu District, to the North of the city centre. It is operated by China Railway Chengdu Group ...

(North Railway Station); single ticket: up to ¥10. * Airport Bus No. 3, Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport –

Chengdu East railway station Chengdudong (Chengdu East) railway station () is a railway station in Chenghua District, Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, serving the Chengdu–Chongqing intercity railway, the Chengdu–Guiyang high-speed railway, the Dazhou–Chengdu ...

(Chengdu Dong Railway Station); single ticket: ¥12.

Taxi

It costs about RMB 60 Yuan from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport to the city centre of Chengdu.

High-speed train (CRH)

Passengers can take the CRH train at Shuangliu Airport railway station to Chengdu South railway station and

; single tickets are about ¥11 (US$1.5). The CRH trains at Shuangliu Airport railway station are also bound for Mianyang, Deyang, Meishan Dong (East), Leshan railway and Emeishan railway stations.

Metro

Two stations on Line 10 of the

links Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport with

Taipingyuan station Taipingyuan () is a transfer station on Line 3, Line 7 and Line 10 of the Chengdu Metro in China. Station layout Gallery 太平园站站厅 2024-11-30 01.jpg, Concourse 太平园站3号线站台 2024-11-30 01.jpg, Line 3 platform 太平� ...

. The stations are

Terminal 1 of Shuangliu International Airport station Terminal 1 of Shuangliu International Airport () is a station on Line 10 of the Chengdu Metro in China. It was opened on 6 September 2017. The station serves Terminal 1 of Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport Chengdu Shuangliu Intern ...

and

Terminal 2 of Shuangliu International Airport station Terminal 2 of Shuangliu International Airport () is a station on Line 10 of the Chengdu Metro in China. It was opened on 6 September 2017. The station serves Terminal 2 of Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport Chengdu Shuangliu Intern ...

which serves Terminals 1 and 2 respectively. It was opened on 6 September 2017.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Airports in Sichuan Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in China Airports established in 1938 1938 establishments in China Transport in Chengdu Buildings and structures in Chengdu Ports of Entry of China