Construction commences! Another "super airport" is coming soon!

The "super airport" is still under expansion.

A few days ago, Chengdu Eastern New Area released the Three-Year Action Plan for Enhancing Gateway Hub Functions and Building a National Gateway for Opening-up to the West and South (2026–2028). It clearly states that all efforts will be made to promote the planning and construction of the second phase of Tianfu International Airport, and strive to start construction in 2028.

This means that the reconstruction and expansion project of Chengdu Tianfu International Airport, which has been included in the outline of the national 15th Five-Year Plan, has a more clear schedule. By then, Tianfu Airport is expected to become another "super airport" in China with an annual passenger throughput exceeding 100 million.

01

In fact, Tianfu Airport is the youngest airport among the top 10 airports in China in terms of passenger throughput. The first phase of the project was officially put into operation in June 2021, with two terminals T1 and T2, three runways in a "two-longitudinal and one-transverse" layout, with a designed annual passenger throughput of 60 million.

However, the passenger throughput of Tianfu Airport has grown rapidly since it was put into use: 13.27 million in 2022; 44.786 million in 2023; 54.906 million in 2024; 56.6867 million in 2025. That is to say, it only took about 5 years for the throughput to approach the designed capacity.

At present, Tianfu Airport has ranked among the top 30 busiest airports in the world, with its passenger throughput ranking 5th in China and 1st in central and western China.

According to the latest plan, by 2028, Tianfu Airport will strive to open more than 85 international (regional) routes, with passenger throughput reaching more than 58 million, further approaching the designed capacity of 60 million.

If the expansion starts smoothly in 2028, Tianfu Airport will also become one of the large hub airports that start expansion the fastest after the first phase is put into operation.

Of course, after the passenger throughput exceeded 50 million in 2024, the reconstruction and expansion of Tianfu Airport has actually been put on the agenda. This time, it is clearly stated that the construction will be strived to start in 2028, which is a relatively pragmatic arrangement.

First, the reconstruction and expansion projects of hub airports such as Chengdu Tianfu have been included in the outline of the national 15th Five-Year Plan. It should be noted that the wording in it is: "implement". Second, public information shows that the Master Plan for Chengdu Tianfu International Airport (Revised Edition) has been officially approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Therefore, considering all circumstances, the second phase of Tianfu Airport is a certainty. The latest schedule further increases the certainty.

02

In fact, the long-term planned passenger throughput of Tianfu Airport itself reaches 120 million.

The specific details of the second phase project are yet to be announced by the authoritative department. However, various information shows that after the completion of the second phase, the throughput capacity of Tianfu Airport is expected to approach the long-term planned target.

This means that Tianfu Airport will most likely become the third "super airport" in China with a throughput capacity of over 100 million passengers, following the reconstructed and expanded Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

It is worth noting that the current designed capacity of Chengdu Shuangliu Airport and the first phase of Tianfu Airport is 60 million passengers each. After the reconstruction and expansion of Tianfu Airport, the capacity is expected to increase by about 50 million, which is indeed equivalent to "building a brand new airport" on the existing basis.

In 2025, the total passenger throughput of Chengdu's two major airports has exceeded 90 million, making Chengdu the third city in China to enter the "100 million passenger flow" aviation tier after Beijing and Shanghai.

At the same time, the outline of Chengdu's 15th Five-Year Plan also clearly puts forward the goal of breaking through 100 million aviation passenger throughput. With the smooth progress of the second phase of Tianfu Airport, Chengdu's status as the "third largest aviation city in China" will be further consolidated.

03

Of course, as the main hub of Chengdu's international aviation hub, the expansion of Tianfu Airport is not only a need to improve transport capacity, but also carries Chengdu's grand vision of further enhancing the level of its international aviation hub. The plan of the Eastern New Area clearly states this time that all efforts will be made to build an all-round gateway composite international aviation hub.

How high is this positioning exactly?

In August 2024, the Civil Aviation Administration of China and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued a document, proposing to accelerate the construction of the "3+7+N" international aviation hub functional system.

According to this, the level of domestic airports is mainly divided into three echelons:

The top tier "3" refers to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, which are positioned as all-round gateway composite international aviation hubs, corresponding to the national aviation "North Gateway", "East Gateway" and "South Gateway" respectively;

The second tier "7" refers to cities that need to enhance the functions of "location gateway composite" international aviation hubs: Chengdu, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Kunming, Xi'an, Urumqi and Harbin.

"N" covers 15 cities, 12 of which focus on enhancing the functions of regional aviation hubs: Dalian, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Hefei, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Jinan, Qingdao, Wuhan, Changsha, Nanning and Haikou.

In addition, it includes: promoting the operation of professional air cargo hubs such as Ezhou with high quality, and accelerating the construction of Zhengzhou International Logistics Center, Hefei International Air Cargo Distribution Center, and Tianjin International Air Logistics Center. The outline of Chengdu's 15th Five-Year Plan clearly proposes to actively build an all-round gateway composite international aviation hub, which means to enter the first tier where Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are located, or in other words, strive to fill the puzzle of the national aviation "West Gateway".

There is no doubt that the second phase of Tianfu Airport will provide a more powerful platform support for achieving this goal.

From a broader perspective, the second phase of Tianfu Airport is not only related to Chengdu, but also a key step to enhance the level of Chengdu-Chongqing world-class airport cluster. This year, the government work reports of Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipal Government both proposed to promote the inclusion of the "ten major projects" including the Chengdu-Chongqing world-class airport cluster into the national plan. At the same time, "promoting the preliminary work of the new Chongqing Airport" has also been written into the outline of the national 15th Five-Year Plan.

With the second phase of Tianfu Airport added, if both of these "two new airports" can start construction during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, it can be said that the Chengdu-Chongqing region will usher in a historic window for the simultaneous expansion of leading hub airports.

The construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing world-class airport cluster will also press the "fast forward button" from then on.

This article is from the WeChat Official Account "Western City Affairs", written by Western Jun, and authorized for release by 36Kr.