Kunming Changshui International Airport

Kunming Changshui International Airport is an international airport serving Kunming, the capital of Southwestern China's Yunnan province. The airport is located northeast of the city center in a graded mountainous area about above sea level. The airport opened at 08:00 on 28 June 2012, replacing the old Kunming Wujiaba International Airport, which was later demolished. As a gateway to Southeast and South Asia, Changshui Airport is a hub for China Eastern Airlines, Kunming Airlines, Lucky Air, Sichuan Airlines and Ruili Airlines.
The new airport has two runways, and handled over 47,000,000 passengers in 2024, making it the 47th busiest airport in the world and 4th busiest airport in China by passenger traffic.
The main terminal was designed by architectural firm SOM with engineering firm Arup.

History

Construction began in 2009. At the time, the facility was reported to be named the Zheng He International Airport, named after Zheng He, a Chinese mariner, explorer, and diplomat.
The very short construction time was marred by two separate incidents. The first occurred on January 3, 2010, when seven construction workers died as an incomplete overpass collapsed. On June 28, 2011, 11 workers were injured when a tunnel that was under construction collapsed.
Construction of the airport's main terminal was completed by July 2011.

Facilities

Terminal

The main terminal of Changshui International Airport is the second largest terminal building in China. The terminal has 66 gates with jet bridges. A total of 88 gates are available.

Runways

Kunming Changshui International Airport now has two runways. East runway is long while west runway is long.

A-CDM

In July 2014, Kunming airport signed an agreement with the aviation data service company VariFlight regarding the Airport Collaborative Decision Making system installation in order to improve the efficiency of its operations, reduce fuel consumption and other expenses. Kunming airport became the first aviation hub in China to implement such an information system. In 2017, the airport's on-time performance reached 85.3%.

People mover

are used as people movers at Changshui Airport, they are nicknamed "Green Dolphin". The tram line is currently 1.88 km long and runs mostly straight, partly under the aircraft taxiway.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Ground transportation

Road

The airport is connected to Kunming by a toll highway known as the Airport Expressway, as well as Provincial Road S101.

Metro

Kunming Airport station, located within the airport, is the eastern terminus of Line 6 of the Kunming Metro. The line opened on the same day as the airport, and originally terminated at East Coach Station on its west side. Following the completion of Line 6 Phase 2 in September 2020, the line now has its western terminus at Tangzixiang station on the southern side of Kunming's city center.

Bus

There are several shuttle bus services available from the city centre.