Passenger throughput at the Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport this year had exceeded 60 million as of Monday, making it the fourth airport on the Chinese mainland to surpass that threshold.
This is the first time that the airport has reached such a significant annual passenger traffic benchmark, according to the airport authority. Achieving this throughput is a significant step in the airport’s goal of establishing itself as a world-class aviation hub.
Seizing the opportunity of the Shenzhong (Shenzhen-Zhongshan) Link, the airport has extended its service to the west side of the Pearl River Estuary by opening terminals in the cities of Zhongshan and Jiangmen. It has also launched express bus lines between the two terminals and the airport.
Flights on 13 domestic routes for business travelers going between Shenzhen and major cities like those in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta area, and the Chengdu-Chongqing area have recorded 33 million passenger trips this year.
So far this year, the airport has opened or resumed 12 international passenger routes, including those to Mexico City, Cairo, Vienna, Budapest, Riyadh, and Madrid. It has also intensified flights on 10 international passenger routes. The airport’s passenger routes cover a total of 31 countries and regions across five continents.
With over 800 inbound and outbound passenger flights per week, Shenzhen residents have more travel choices. Among the 60 million passengers this year, over 5 million were overseas travelers.
The airport’s two new terminals, T1 and T2, will open in 2027, according to the city’s transport bureau in August.
Adjacent to the in-use T3 terminal and the satellite hall, T2 will primarily cater to international flights, with an anticipated annual passenger throughput of 31 million.
T1 will is designed to accommodate 12 million domestic and 3 million international passengers annually.
Initially known as the Shenzhen Huangtian International Airport, the airport commenced operations in October 1991. It was renamed as the Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport on Sept. 18, 2001.
By 2030, the airport is projected to handle 80 million passengers and 2.6 million tons of cargo annually.