Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Summary | |||||||||||||||
Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
Operator | Sichuan Province Airport Group Co., Ltd. | ||||||||||||||
Serves | Chengdu | ||||||||||||||
Location | Shuangliu-Wuhou | ||||||||||||||
Hub for |
Air China Chengdu Airlines Sichuan Airlines |
||||||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 495 m / 1,624 ft | ||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 30°34′42″N 103°56′49″E / 30.57833°N 103.94694°ECoordinates: 30°34′42″N 103°56′49″E / 30.57833°N 103.94694°E | ||||||||||||||
Website | www |
||||||||||||||
Maps | |||||||||||||||
CAAC airport chart |
|||||||||||||||
Location in Sichuan | |||||||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
Statistics (2015) | |||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
Passengers | 42,239,458 |
---|---|
Cargo (tons) | 556,552 |
Aircraft movements | 293,643 |
Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport | |||||||
Simplified Chinese | 成都双流国际机场 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Traditional Chinese | 成都雙流國際機場 | ||||||
|
Transcriptions | |
---|---|
Standard Mandarin | |
Hanyu Pinyin | Chéngdū Shuāngliú Guójì Jīchǎng |
Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport (IATA: CTU, ICAO: ZUUU) is the major international airport serving Chengdu, the capital of China's Sichuan Province. Located about 16 kilometres (10 mi) southwest of downtown Chengdu to the north of Shuangliu District, Shuangliu airport is an important aviation hub to Western China. Shuangliu Airport is one of the two core hubs for Air China, together with Beijing, as well as the main hub and headquarters for Sichuan Airlines and Chengdu Airlines. China Eastern Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Lucky Air and Tibet Airlines also have bases at Shuangliu Airport.
Shuangliu Airport handled 42.2 million passengers in 2015. It was among world's top 30 busiest airport in 2015, the 4th busiest in mainland China, and the busiest in western and central China. It was also the 5th busiest airport in terms of cargo traffic in China for 2013.
The airport, formerly named Shuangguisi Airport, opened as an auxiliary military airfield in 1938 during the Second Sino-Japanese War/World War II. At the time, its runway was only large enough for small biplanes. It was also where the Republic of China Air Force Polikarpov I-15 fighters of the 5th Pursuit Group were based for aerial defense of the Chengtu area against Imperial Japanese bomber raids; this following the Chinese retreat from Wuhan to Chungking as the new provisional capital in aftermath of the Battle of Wuhan against the Imperial Japanese onslaught. Civilian targets were indiscriminately bombed, and ace fighter pilot of the Chinese Air Force Major Wong Sun-shui and Lieutenant Lin Heng (younger brother of renowned architect and poet Lin Huiyin) flying in their I-15 fighter planes were both killed near Shuangliu air base as a result of battling against the world's best fighter aircraft of the time, the A6M "Zero" (Reisen) fighter, in defense of Chengdu on 14 March 1941.