Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport

Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport 成都双流国际机场 Chéngdū Shuāngliú Guójì Jīchǎng
IATA: CTU – ICAO: ZUUU CTU Location of the airport in Sichuan
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Sichuan Province Airport Group Co.,Ltd
Serves		Chengdu
Location		Shuangliu County
Hub for		Air China Chengdu Airlines Sichuan Airlines
Elevation AMSL		1,625 ft / 495 m
Coordinates		30°34′42″N 103°56′49″E / 30.57833°N 103.94694°E / 30.57833; 103.94694
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
02R/20L	11,811	3,600	Concrete
02L/20R	11,811	3,600	Concrete
Statistics (2010)
Passengers			25,805,815
Source: China's busiest airports by passenger traffic

Planes of Air China, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines in Airside Concourse C

Terminal 2 under construction

Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport (IATA: CTU, ICAO: ZUUU) (simplified Chinese: 成都双流国际机场; traditional Chinese: 成都雙流國際機場; pinyin: Chéngdū Shuāngliú Guójì Jīchǎng) is the major airport of Chengdu, People's Republic of China. It is located in the north of Shuangliu County, about 16 kilometres (10 mi) southwest of downtown Chengdu.

In 2010 Shuangliu Airport handled 25,805,815 passengers to rank the 6th busiest in mainland China and the 51st in the world.^[1] It was also the 6th busiest airport in terms of cargo traffic and the 6th busiest by traffic movements in China for 2009.

On May 12, 2008 the airport was temporarily shut down after sustaining some minor damages from the great Sichuan Earthquake but was quickly reopened the following day after inspection of the runway. The continued operation of the airport played a crucial role in facilitating the rescue work after the earthquake.^[2]

There is also a long-term plan to build a second airport in Jintang County with five runways. Upon completion, it will take less than 30 minutes to travel from Jintang to downtown Chengdu.

Overview

History

The airport, formerly named Shuangguisi Airport, opened in capacity as an auxiliary military airfield in 1938 during the second Sino-Japanese War (1937-45) and World War II. At the time, it possessed only earth surface for small biplanes to take off and touch down, where the Nationalist Chinese Air Force Polikarpov I-15 fighters of the 5th Pursuit Group were based for aerial defense of the Chengdu area against Japanese bomber raids^[3]; this following the Chinese retreat from Wuhan to Chongqing as the new provisional capital in face of the Imperial Japanese onslaught.

During World War II, the airport was known as Shwangliu (Shuangliu) Airfield and was later used by the United States Army Air Forces Fourteenth Air Force as part of the China Defensive Campaign (1942–1945). It was used as a fighter base by the 33d Fighter Group, which flew P-47 Thunderbolt figher-bombers from the airport in 1944 to support Chinese ground forces, and also by reconnaissance units that operated camera-equipped P-38 Lightnings 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.^[4][5]

On December 12, 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, Xi An, Chongqing, Kunming, Guiyang, Nanchong, etc.^[6] The airport went through several earlier expansions in 1959, 1967, 1983 and 1991 respectively.

Current State

A large-scale expansion was conducted on flight area and navigation area from 1994 to 2001. The runway was extended to 3,600m with Class 4E rating, allowing for larger jumbo jets including Boeing 747-400. The newly built terminal building was incorporated with three-parallel-porch design, accommodating an hourly capacity of 3,500 passengers at rush hours, while the previous terminal building was only designated for regional flights within Sichuan and Chongqing henceforth.^{[citation needed]}

The airport is now an international civil airport with flights to more than 20 international destinations and many domestic airports, and is a hub for Chengdu Airlines, Air China and Sichuan Airlines. It is linked to downtown Chengdu by an expressway.

The construction of its second runway started from late 2008 and has started service in December 2009. The completed new runway, with 3,600 m length and 60 m width, upgraded the previous flight area rating from 4E to 4F, capable of handling the Airbus A380.^[7] The new Terminal 2 has started construction in June 2009 and is expected to be in service in 2011. The new terminal is twice the size of the current T1, which will allow the airport to handle up to 35 million passengers annually by the time of completion.

Airlines and destinations

Scheduled

Flights to and from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan are treated as international flights.

Airlines	Destinations
Air China	Bangalore, Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Beijing-Capital, Changchun, Changsha, Changzhi, Changzhou, Dalian, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Guilin, Guiyang, Haikou, Hangzhou, Harbin, Hefei, Hong Kong, Osaka-Kansai, Jinan, Jiuzhaigou, Karachi, Kathmandu, Korla, Kunming, Lanzhou, Lhasa, Lijiang, Nagoya-Centrair, Nanchang, Nanjing, Nanning, Ngari, Nyingchi, Panzhihua, Qamdo, Qingdao, Sanya, Shanghai-Pudong, Shantou, Shenyang, Shenzhen, Singapore, Seoul-Incheon, Taipei-Taoyuan, Taiyuan, Tianjin, Tokyo-Narita, Urumqi, Wenzhou, Wuhan, Wuxi, Xiamen, Xi'an, Xichang, Xining, Xishuangbanna, Yinchuan, Yiwu, Yuncheng, Zhangjiajie，Zhanjiang, Zhengzhou, Zhuhai
Air Macau	Macau
AirAsia X	Kuala Lumpur
All Nippon Airways operated by Air Nippon	Tokyo-Narita
Asiana Airlines	Jeju, Seoul-Incheon
Beijing Capital Airlines	Guangzhou, Lijiang, Sanya
Chengdu Airlines	Beihai, Changsha, Dalian, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Guiyang, Jinan, Jinggangshan, Jining, Jiuzhaigou, Kunming, Lianyungang, Lijiang, Liuzhou, Nanjing, Nanning, Ningbo, Sanya, Shenzhen, Shijiazhuang, Taizhou, Wenzhou, Wuhan, Xiamen, Xi'an, Xichang
China Airlines	Taipei-Taoyuan
China Eastern Airlines	Dali, Golmud, Hangzhou, Hefei, Hiroshima, Jiuzhaigou, Jinan, Jinghong, Kangding, Kunming, Lanzhou, Lhasa, Lijiang, Nanchang, Nanjing, Ningbo, Phuket, Sanya, Shanghai-Pudong, Shijiazhuag, Taiyuan, Tengchong, Qingdao, Wenzhou, Wuhan, Wuxi, Xi'an, Yinchuan, Yulin Charter: Da Nang
China Express Airlines	Luoyang
China Southern Airlines	Baotou, Beijing-Capital, Changchun, Changsha, Dalian, Daqing, Guangzhou, Guilin, Guiyang, Harbin, Jinan, Jiuzhaigou, Shantou, Shenyang, Shenzhen, Urumqi, Wuhan, Xi'an, Yantai, Zhengzhou, Zhuhai
China United Airlines	Beijing-Nanyuan
Dragonair	Hong Kong
EVA Air	Taipei-Taoyuan
Etihad Airways	Abu Dhabi [begins 16 December][8]
Far Eastern Air Transport	Kaohsiung
Hebei Airlines	Shijiazhuang
Hainan Airlines	Beijing-Capital, Changsha, Haikou, Sanya, Shenzhen, Urumqi, Xi'an
Hong Kong Airlines operated by Hong Kong Express Airways	Hong Kong
Juneyao Airlines	Shanghai-Hongqiao
KLM	Amsterdam
Kunming Airlines	Kunming
Lucky Air	Kunming, Tianjin
Okay Airways	Tianjin
Shandong Airlines	Jinan, Qingdao
Shanghai Airlines	Shanghai-Pudong, Shanghai-Hongqiao
Shenzhen Airlines	Guangzhou, Nanning, Shenzhen, Wuxi
Sichuan Airlines	Beijing-Capital, Changchun, Changsha, Chongqing, Dalian, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Guilin, Guiyang, Haikou, Hangzhou, Harbin, Hefei, Ho Chi Minh City[9], Hohhot, Hong Kong, Jiayuguan, Jinan, Jingdezhen, Jiuzhaigou, Kunming, Lanzhou, Lhasa, Lijiang, Linyi, Malé, Mangshi, Nanchang, Nanjing, Nanning, Nantong, Ningbo, Ordos, Panzhihua, Phuket, Qingdao, Saipan, Sanya, Shanghai-Pudong, Shenzhen, Shenyang, Shijiazhuang, Seoul-Incheon, Taichung, Taipei-Songshan, Taiyuan, Tengchong, Tianjin, Urumqi, Wenzhou, Wuhan, Wuxi, Xiamen, Xi'an, Xichang, Xining, Xuzhou, Yichang, Yinchuan, Zhangjiajie, Zhengzhou
SilkAir	Singapore
Spring Airlines	Shijiazhuang, Shenyang
Thai Airways International	Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi
Tibet Airlines	Haikou, Hangzhou, Sanya, Lhasa, Zhengzhou
Xiamen Airlines	Changsha, Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Xiamen
Zest Airways	Charter: Kalibo [resumes November 30]

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
Air China Cargo	Beijing-Capital, Milan-Malpensa, Shanghai-Pudong
Cathay Pacific Cargo	Hong Kong, Shanghai-Pudong
China Postal Airlines	Nanjing
Jade Cargo International	Amsterdam, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Vienna
Korean Air Cargo	Chennai, Seoul-Incheon, Singapore
Shenzhen Donghai Airlines	Hong Kong
UPS Airlines	Almaty, Cologne/Bonn, Seoul-Incheon, Shanghai-Pudong, Warsaw[10]
Yangtze River Express	Luxembourg, Prague, Shanghai-Pudong，Shenzhen

See also

World War II portal

• List of airports in the People's Republic of China

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

1. ^ 成都双流机场2010年客运量全球排名上升两位
2. ^ Chengdu Shuangliu Int'l airport re-opens
3. ^ http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/sino-japanese-1940.htm
4. ^ Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. ISBN 0-89201-092-4
5. ^ USAFHRA document search - Shwangliu
6. ^ Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport
7. ^ Sichuan Online (Chinese)
8. ^ Chengdu to become Etihad Airways' 69th destination
9. ^ http://skyteam.com.vn/chi-tiet-tin/11/50/sichuan-airlines-se-mo-duong-bay-den-viet-nam-vao-thang-03/2011-.html
10. ^ [1]

External links

• Official Website