Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport is the major airport of
Guangzhou,
Guangdong province, in Southern China. Both airport codes were inherited from the
former Baiyun Airport, and the IATA code is derived from Guangzhou's historical
romanization ''Canton''. Baiyun Airport serves as a hub for
China Southern Airlines,
FedEx Express,
9 Air
9 Air Co., Ltd., operating as 9 Air, () is a Chinese low-cost airline headquartered in Baiyun District, Guangzhou, China. 9 Air was created as a subsidiary of Juneyao Airlines in 2014.
*
*
* Former address: Address in Chinese "广东省广州 ...
,
Hainan Airlines and
Shenzhen Airlines. In 2020, due to the
impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on aviation, it was the world's busiest airport by passenger traffic, handling 43.8 million passengers.
In 2021, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport was the world's eighth-
busiest airport by passenger traffic, with 40.2 million passengers handled, making it also the busiest airport outside the United States, and the
busiest in China. As for cargo traffic, the airport was China's second-busiest, as well as the second-busiest airport worldwide in terms of aircraft movements.
Overview
1932–2004
The old Baiyun Airport opened in 1932. Due to the expansion of Guangzhou, the airport could not expand to meet passengers needs as buildings surrounded the airport. On 5 August 2004, the new Baiyun Airport opened and the old airport was closed.
Since 2004
The new airport is located in Guangzhou's
Baiyun District and
Huadu District and opened on 5 August 2004 as a replacement for the 72-year-old, identically named
former airport, which is now closed. Built at a cost of 19.8 billion
yuan, the new airport is north of downtown Guangzhou and nearly five times larger than its predecessor. "Baiyun" () means "white cloud" in
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
and refers to the
Baiyun Mountain (''Baiyunshan''), near the former airport even though the mountain is much closer to downtown Guangzhou than it is to the new airport. It is also referred to as "New Baiyun" to distinguish it from the previous airport, but this is not a part of the official name.
Former curfews and restrictions did not apply to the new airport so it could operate 24 hours a day, allowing China Southern Airlines to maximise intercontinental route utilisation with overnight flights. Other airlines also benefit from the removal of previous restrictions.
Data
* Runways: 3—, and
* Aircraft parking bays: 173 (passenger apron and cargo apron)
* Current passenger capacity: 45 million passengers per year
** Planned passenger capacity in 2020: 80 million passengers per year
* Current cargo capacity: 1 million tonnes
** Planned cargo capacity in 2020: 2.5 million tonnes
* Destinations: 100 (mostly domestic)
* Branch airports:
Jieyang,
Meizhou,
Zhanjiang
** Planned branch airports:
Shaoguan,
Zhaoqing
Facilities
Terminal 1
Terminal 1 has three components, Main Terminal, Area A and Area B. All check-in counters and most retail stores are placed at the Main Terminal. The two concourses controlled by individual security checkpoints, named Area A and Area B, are the boarding gates, security checkpoints, border control, customs and quarantine, baggage reclaim and relative facilities.
Since 24 January 2016, East Piers 1 and 2 are dedicated to serve international flights; domestic flights occupy the rest.
File:白云T1柜台.jpg, Check-in counters at Terminal 1
File:Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport - Departure Lobby.jpg, Departure Lobby A at Terminal 1
File:Electric transporting system of CAN.jpg, Interior of Terminal 1
File:白云T1登机口.jpg, Boarding Gate at Terminal 1
File:白云T1行李.jpg, Baggage Claim at Terminal 1
Terminal 2
Terminal 2 opened on April 26, 2018, with an area measuring over 808,700 square metres, making it one of the world's largest
airport terminal facilities. When Terminal 2 officially operates, it will be typically home to
China Southern Airlines. Most
SkyTeam
SkyTeam is one of the world's three major airline alliances. Founded in June 2000, SkyTeam was the last of the three alliances to be formed, the first two being Star Alliance and Oneworld, respectively. Its annual passenger count is 630 million ...
member airlines will also typically operate in Terminal 2. However, on 31 December 2019, China Southern withdrew from the SkyTeam airline alliance.
File:Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Terminal 2 Counter.jpg, Check-in counters at Terminal 2
File:Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Terminal 2 Self Cheek-in with baggage Counter.jpg, Self Check-in with baggage counter at Terminal 2
File:白雲T2國内值機島.jpg, Departure Lobby at Terminal 2
File:Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Terminal 2 Boarding Gate.jpg, Boarding Gate at Terminal 2
File:Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport T2 Baggage Claim - in native language.jpg, Baggage Claim at Terminal 2
The new transport centre (GTC) is under construction on the south side of terminal 2; passengers will be able to go to Guangzhou downtown by taking metro, rail, bus or taxi there.
FedEx Asia-Pacific hub
On July 13, 2005,
FedEx Express signed a contract with the airport authority to relocate its Asia-Pacific hub from
Subic Bay International Airport
Subic Bay International Airport ( fil, Paliparang Pandaigdig ng Look ng Subic; ) serves as a secondary and diversion airport for Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Metro Manila and Clark International Airport in Pampanga. It also serves the i ...
in the Philippines to Baiyun Airport. The new Asia-Pacific hub covers an area of approximate , with a total floor space of .
At the beginning of operation, the hub employed more than 800 people and operated 136 flights a week, providing delivery services among 20 major cities in Asia and linking these cities to more than 220 countries and territories in the world. The Guangzhou hub was, at the time of the opening, the largest FedEx hub outside the United States,
but it was later surpassed by the expanded hub at Paris'
Charles de Gaulle Airport.
The hub has its own ramp control tower, a first for an international air express cargo company facility in China, which enables FedEx to control aircraft movements on the ground, aircraft parking plans as well as loading and unloading priorities. Included at the hub are a unique package and sorting system with 16 high-speed sorting lines, seven round-out
conveyor belts and 90 primary and secondary document-sorting splits. With the new advanced system, up to 24,000 packages can be sorted an hour at the start of operations.
Construction began in 2006 and the hub was originally scheduled to open on December 26, 2008. On November 17, 2008, after several months of testing, FedEx announced that the opening date was delayed to the first half of 2009 when the hub was expected to be fully operational. FedEx claimed that the revised operation date "provided FedEx with the necessary time to fully test all systems and processes, as well as work closely with the Guangzhou authorities to ensure all necessary approvals are in place".
On December 17, 2008, the hub completed its first flight operations test. A FedEx
MD-11 aircraft took off from Subic Bay International Airport in the Philippines and landed at Baiyun Airport at 5:50 am. The flight was handled by the new FedEx hub team, using the FedEx ramp control tower and the new 24,000 package per hour sort system. Following a successful operations' process, the flight departed on time for its final destination at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France. This Asia-Europe flight route operated four times per week during test run. FedEx also announced that the hub would start operation on February 6, 2009.
FedEx closed its 13-year-old Asia-Pacific hub at Subic Bay of northern Philippines on February 6, 2009, with the last flight leaving for Taiwan just before dawn, while hub operations have moved to Baiyun Airport. The first flight that arrived at the new FedEx Asia-Pacific hub originated from
Indianapolis International Airport. The MD-11 aircraft landed at 11:07 pm at Baiyun International Airport from Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris, marking the opening and full operations of the new Asia-Pacific hub.
Runways
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport now has three runways. The third runway opened on February 5, 2015, which temporarily tackled the long‐standing capacity obstacle. The operation of the third runway expanded Baiyun Airport's capacity, pushing business up. Unfortunately, the third runway can only be used for landing, as its airspace conflicts with
Foshan Airport.
The airport is planning to build two additional runways.
Expansion
In August 2008, the airport's expansion plan was approved by the
National Development and Reform Commission.
It included a third runway, in length and in width, located to the east of the existing east runway. The centrepiece of the project is a Terminal 2. Other facilities comprise new indoor and outdoor car parks and a transportation centre with
metro
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to:
Geography
* Metro (city), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
and
inter-city train
Inter-city rail services are express passenger train services that run services that connect cities over longer distances than commuter or regional trains.
There is no precise definition of inter-city rail; its meaning may vary from country ...
services. The total cost of the entire project was estimated to be around
¥18.854 billion. Construction of the third runway began in 2012 and the runway commenced operation in early 2015. The whole project including the new terminal was scheduled to be finished in February 2018, at which time the airport will be able to handle 80 million passengers and 2.5 million tonnes of cargo a year.
The third phase expansion plan has been approved by the National Development and Reform Commission of China. After the expansion, Baiyun Airport will have three terminals, a satellite concourse, five runways and a high-speed railway station. The airport will be able to handle 120 million passengers, 3.8 million tons freight and 775,000 aircraft movements a year. The whole expansion project is estimated to be finished in 2025.
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
Cargo
Statistics
Ground transportation
Inter-terminal
There is a free shuttle bus that goes between Terminals 1 and 2.
Road
The airport is connected to downtown Guangzhou by the S41 Guangzhou Airport Expressway.
Rail
Guangzhou–Foshan circular intercity railway
Guangzhou–Foshan circular intercity railway, also known as the Guangfo ring intercity railway, is a regional rail in the Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region intercity railway system. The line will form a ring around Guangzhou, Guangdong, Chi ...
, which is under construction, will serve
Baiyun Airport North railway station
Baiyun Airport North railway station () is an underground railway station located in Huadu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It opened with the Eastern section of the Guangzhou–Foshan circular intercity railway on 30 November 2020.
The ...
(for Terminal 2),
Baiyun Airport South railway station (for Terminal 1) and
Baiyun Airport East railway station Baiyun (generally ) may refer to:
Guangzhou
*Baiyun District, Guangzhou
*Baiyun Mountain (Guangdong)
* Baiyun New Town
*Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, in Huadu District
*Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (former), closed down in 2004 ...
(for Terminal 3) in the airport. The rail will connect the airport to the
Panyu railway station
Panyu railway station () is a railway station currently under construction in Panyu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It is scheduled to open in 2021 with the Southern section of Guangzhou–Foshan circular intercity railway (Foshan West – ...
and the
Huadu railway station.
Metro
Baiyun International Airport is served by the
Airport South Station (serving Terminal 1) and the
Airport North Station (serving Terminal 2) on
Line 3 of
Guangzhou Metro.
In the future,
Guangzhou Metro Line 22 may serve the airport, connecting it to downtown Guangzhou.
Bus
There are 5 Airport Express lines and 6 Airport Non-stop lines between airport and downtown. Buses take passengers to city's major hotels, grand plaza and transportation center, such as Garden Hotel, Guangdong Hotel, CITIC Plaza, Haizhu Square, Tianhe Coach Station, Guangzhou North Station among other destinations.
To service passengers out of Guangzhou city, the airport also provides intercity bus service. The buses will take passengers from/to Dongguan, Foshan, Zhongshan, Huizhou, Jiangmen among other destinations.
See also
*
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (former)
*
List of airports in Guangdong province, from 1911-current (''Zh-Wiki'')
*
List of airports in China
*
List of the busiest airports in China
*
World's busiest airports by cargo traffic
*
World's busiest airports by passenger traffic
References
External links
Official website
{{authority control
Transport in Guangzhou
Airports in Guangdong
Baiyun District, Guangzhou
Huadu District
Airports established in 2004
2004 establishments in China