Chengdu Tianfu, China opens to commercial traffic

China’s latest mega airport, the long-awaited Chengdu Tianfu in Sichuan Province, has officially opened for domestic commercial operations and is set to become a major passenger and cargo aviation hub in the country’s southwest region.

Sichuan is one of China’s key manufacturing hubs with Chengdu accounting for 37.6% of its GDP alone. The plan is to therefore develop Chengdu into a major connecting hub for passengers and cargo for flights to Tibet, South Asia, and Europe.

The first commercial inaugural flight from Tianfu Airport was conducted by Sichuan Airlines (3U, Chengdu Shuangliu) on June 27, 2021, bound for Beijing Capital, according to Chinese media reports. Only domestic flights will be operating for now from Tianfu Airport as China remains closed to commercial international traffic due to COVID-19.

Air China (CA, Beijing Capital), while maintaining a steady operation at Chengdu’s existing hub, Chengdu Shuangliu, has stationed 17 aircraft at Tianfu Airport from where it now serves 17 destinations. The airline will increase its capacity at the new airport in stages in tandem with demand. By the end of autumn 2023, Air China aims to serve 95 destinations from the hub, reports chenpe.com. According to the ch-aviation schedules module, current destinations served include Beijing Capital, Guangzhou, Haikou, Huizhou, Lianyungang, Shanghai Pudong, Shenzhen, Shijiazhuang, Shiyan, Taiyuan, Tianjin, Xichang, Yantai Penglai Int’l, Yiwu, Yuncheng, Zhanjiang, and Zhengzhou.

China Eastern Airlines (MU, Shanghai Hongqiao) will also gradually increase its number of flights at Tianfu Airport. According to the ch-aviation schedules, it will serve 19 destinations including Shanghai Hongqiao and Shanghai Pudong, Beijing Daxing Int’l, Kunming Changshui, Changde, Changzhou, Hangzhou, Hefei, Huangshan, Lincang, Mangshi, Nanjing, Ningbo, Shenzhen, Taiyuan, Huangyan, Tengchong, Wenzhou, Wuhan, Xining, and Xinyang, as well as Yichang, Yiwu, and Yushu. By late 2022, China Eastern Airlines and its subsidiaries are expected to carry out 137 inbound and outbound flights daily from Tianfu Airport.

Shanghai Airlines (FM, Shanghai Hongqiao) and China United Airlines (KN, Beijing Daxing Int’l) will also transfer operations to Tianfu Airport by late 2022.

From June 27 to July 13, 2021, Tianfu Airport will open commercial routes to Beijing Daxing Int’l, Shanghai Hongqiao and Shanghai Pudong, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hanzhong, Nanjing, Xiamen, Wuhan, Lhasa, Sanya, Diqing, and Jiansanjiang, reports chenpe.com.

From July 14, flights will increase to commercial routes such as Beijing Daxing, Shanghai Pudong, Hangzhou, and Nanjing, as well as cultural and tourist routes such as Lijiang, Guilin, and Beihai. Daily frequencies are to reach 271 to meet summer travel demand.

Located about 50km from downtown Chengdu, Tianfu Airport is the largest civil aviation airport built during China’s 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), reports state news agency Xinhua.

Constructed at a cost exceeding CNY75 billion yuan (USD11.6 billion), Phase One of the massive aviation hub boasts three runways and two terminals covering 710,000 sqm, giving it the capacity to handle up to 60 million passengers per year, as well as 1.3 million tonnes of cargo and mail. It has 63 passenger security check channels, 92% of which are fitted with smart security equipment. Three more runways and terminal space totalling 1.4 million sqm will be completed by 2035, doubling its annual capacity to 120 million passengers plus a cargo and mail throughput of 2.8 million tonnes.

The mega project makes Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, the third city in China to have two international airports, joining Shanghai (Shanghai Pudong and Shanghai Hongqiao) and Beijing (Beijing Capital and Beijing Daxing Int’l). The new airport is expected to reduce the burden on the city’s existing Shuangliu Airport, which last year was the second busiest in China after Guangzhou despite the disruption to air travel caused by the pandemic. Prior to COVID, Shuangliu Airport was the fourth-largest in the country by passenger volume. The airport at present handles 310,000 take-offs and landings a year, with an annual passenger throughput of 40.7 million.

Plans are for Tianfu Airport and Shuangliu Airport to integrate their operations, with Shuangliu Airport mainly operating domestic and regional routes. The two airports will serve as alternate airports to each other and are connected through railway links.

Tianfu Airport hub is also connected to high-speed rail creating a multimodal transportation system integrating aviation, motorway, high-speed rail, and urban rail system.

According to data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the Chengdu-Chongqing Airport Group in 2020 recorded a passenger throughput of 83.83 million, second only to the 91.4 million passengers in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area airport cluster.