China's No.1 airport returns to Guangzhou

In the first half of this year, a major shift took place in China's airport landscape: Guangzhou Baiyun Airport has reclaimed the top spot nationwide in passenger throughput.

It has been three years since Baiyun Airport last claimed the number one position. Even more impressively, its growth rate hit 8.2%! This puts it far ahead of all other major domestic airports by a wide margin.

This achievement did not come easily. For one thing, passenger growth across airports nationwide was generally sluggish in the first half of the year, with an average growth rate of only around 1.1%, and many large airports even saw negative passenger growth.

According to statistics from "National Urban Strategy", among 41 airports with annual passenger volumes exceeding 10 million, 18 recorded a decline in passenger numbers. Tianjin, Changsha, Wuhan, Taiyuan, and Xi'an saw the steepest drops, with Changsha Airport's ranking falling by four positions.

Against this backdrop, Baiyun Airport's rise to the top carries even greater weight.

For another, Baiyun's competitor is none other than Shanghai Pudong Airport. In 2025, Baiyun Airport's annual passenger throughput reached 83.58 million, ranking second in the country, just behind Pudong. Looking further back, Baiyun Airport also trailed Pudong in 2024.

The third factor is the weather. In the first half of the year, Guangzhou experienced persistent heavy rainfall, which significantly disrupted flight operations at Baiyun Airport, making delays and cancellations commonplace.

Achieving such a growth rate under these challenging weather conditions fully demonstrates the airport's strong resilience.

What accounts for Baiyun Airport's remarkable resilience?

The first reason is facility expansion. Last October, Baiyun Airport's T3 terminal officially opened, with its fifth runway becoming operational on the same day. Since then, the airport has entered a new era of "five runways plus three terminals", making it the first civil aviation airport in China to have five commercial runways.

Hardware upgrades have brought about tangible improvements in capacity. After the expansion, Baiyun Airport can now accommodate an annual passenger throughput of 120 million in the near term.

The data shows that the boost from T3 is clearly evident. In the first quarter of this year, Baiyun Airport handled 22.5389 million passengers, representing a 12.4% year-on-year increase. This marked the airport's first major Spring Festival travel rush test after T3 opened, and it took the top spot nationwide in both "total Spring Festival passenger volume" and "single-day passenger handling capacity".

Apart from the new terminal opening, another factor that cannot be overlooked is the route structure.

Both Pudong and Baiyun are key international airports in China, but they have different divisions of labor. Pudong's international routes are primarily focused on Japan, South Korea, Europe, and America. Over the past year or so, due to geopolitical changes, Sino-Japanese air routes have shrunk dramatically, hitting Pudong Airport the hardest.

Baiyun Airport's international routes mainly cover Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Oceania, most of which are countries along the Belt and Road Initiative and members of the Global South. These regions maintain frequent economic and trade exchanges with China and are less affected by international relations frictions. As a result, passenger growth has come naturally.

Since the start of this year, over 10 million people have passed through the entry-exit checkpoint at Baiyun Airport, a 19.6% year-on-year increase that sets a new all-time record for the fastest growth in the port's history. Among them, the number of foreign nationals entering and exiting exceeded 3.9 million, up 34% year-on-year, far outpacing the national average.

Here's the key point: Why do Guangzhou's international routes hold greater influence among countries along the Belt and Road?

Looking at the map, Guangzhou enjoys a uniquely advantageous geographical location, situated at the midpoint of the Asia-Pacific coastline and the center of population distribution. It serves not only as China's southern gateway but also as an Asia-Pacific hub city that radiates to Southeast Asia, reaches South Asia, and connects the Middle East.

In the eyes of overseas investors, Guangzhou has already developed the function of a strategic fulcrum for global layout. Establishing a presence in Guangzhou enables businesses to expand across the Asia-Pacific and embrace global markets.

In the past June alone, the UAE International Investment Summit China (Guangdong) Industrial Investment Matchmaking Event was held in Guangzhou. Known as the "Middle East version of the Davos Forum", the UAE International Investment Summit is a key barometer for global investment trends.

Overall, Guangzhou's influence among Belt and Road countries continues to grow steadily, providing a steady stream of incremental passenger flow for Baiyun Airport.

An airport never exists in isolation; it is a barometer of a city's economic vitality.

Since the start of this year, Guangzhou's economy has rebounded strongly, with its first-quarter GDP growth reaching 6%, which rarely ranks first among all first-tier cities. Its total economic output has also surpassed Chongqing, reclaiming its position as the fourth-largest economy in China.

In the first five months, Guangzhou's pillar industries such as automobiles and electronics saw notable recovery. The automotive manufacturing sector grew by 6.6%, while new energy vehicle production increased by 42.5%, driving the upstream lithium-ion battery and intelligent in-vehicle equipment manufacturing industries to achieve rapid value-added growth of 64.7% and 33.5% respectively.

The vibrancy of the local economy, combined with the opening of the T3 terminal and the contributions from international routes, has provided solid support for Baiyun Airport's passenger throughput.

The last time Baiyun Airport claimed the national number one title dates back to 2023 and earlier — from 2020 to 2023, Baiyun Airport ranked first in total passenger throughput nationwide for four consecutive years.

After a two-year gap, Baiyun Airport has regained its leading position. What's more remarkable is that Guangzhou only has one airport, while its competitors Shanghai, Beijing, and Chengdu are all cities with dual-airport systems. With just a single airport, Guangzhou has managed to maintain its unbeatable position, a testament to its undeniable resilience.

This article is from the WeChat official account "City War", author: Tinghai Moyu, published with authorization from 36Kr.