Hohhot Baita International Airport is an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...

serving Hohhot, the capital of

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

, China. It is the largest airport in Inner Mongolia and lies east of downtown Hohhot. Its name Baita, meaning White Pagoda, derives from

Wanbu Huayanjing Pagoda Wanbu Huayanjing Pagoda (), commonly referred to as Baita or White Pagoda () is a large pagoda located in Saihan District, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China. Built during the Liao dynasty, the tower is octagonal in shape and contains 7 floors, and ...

; one of the historical attractions in Hohhot which lies south-east of the airport. In 2013 it served 6,150,282 passengers.

History

Hohhot Baita Airport was opened on 1 October 1958. In the mid-1980s and 1990s, it underwent two expansions and in June 2007 a new terminal was constructed. The new terminal covers an area of with 11 parking

jetways A jet bridge (also termed jetway, jetwalk, airgate, gangway, aerobridge/airbridge, skybridge, finger, airtube, expedited suspended passenger entry system (E-SPES), or its official industry name passenger boarding bridge (PBB)) is an enclosed, ...

and is capable of handling three million passengers each year. Its runway was also lengthened and its widened to accommodate jumbo jets such as the

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

. It served as one of the diversion airports for air traffic during the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

. With the rapid expansion of the city, Baita Airport is now surrounded by urban area and has no more room to expand to accommodate growing traffic. The Hohhot Shengle International Airport is being constructed in Horinger County to replace Baita Airport.

History

Airlines and destinations