China approves new airport in Guangdong to ease congestion woes

New facility in country’s largest province slated to process 30 million annual trips by 2035, 2.2 million tonnes of cargo per year by 2050

Reading Time:2 minutes

Airports in China’s southern province of Guangdong may see some congestion relief with the opening of a new facility. Photo: AP

Published: 6:30pm, 6 Jan 2025

China’s State Council has given the all-clear for a new international airport in the southern province of Guangdong – the nation’s largest by population – to ease congestion and help the region become an international cargo hub.

The new facility will serve cities west of the provincial capital Guangzhou, diverting flights from three other mainland Chinese airports in the 55,800 square-kilometre (21,544 square mile) Pearl River Delta area that also includes tech centre Shenzhen, news reports and analysts said.

The Pearl River Delta Hub (Guangzhou New) Airport, slated to start operations in 2028, plans for a yearly throughput of 30 million trips in 2035 and twice that flow by 2050, according to the province’s official website.

Cargo throughput at the facility should amount to 500,000 tonnes by 2030 and 2.2 million tonnes by 2050, finance media outlet Cailianshe said.

Guangdong’s flagship Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, by comparison, had a throughput of 63.17 million trips in 2023 and processed more than 2 million tonnes of cargo and mail the same year.

Hong Kong International Airport, part of the Greater Bay Area – a region covering cities in Guangdong as well as the neighbouring special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau – handled 40 million passengers in 2023 and was ranked as the world’s busiest air cargo facility with 4.5 million tonnes of material processed.

The new project fits into a nationwide five-year plan for the development of civil aviation, domestic media outlets said on Sunday when reporting on the State Council’s go-ahead, adding preliminary construction began on December 25.