Baiyun Airport eyes greater success during next 5-year plan

Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in this Guangdong provincial capital has achieved remarkable results in promoting high-quality development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), laying a solid foundation for constructing a world-class aviation hub during the 15th Five-Year Plan period that begins in 2026.

Baiyun International Airport, one of the three aviation hubs in the country, has achieved a historic breakthrough in both the scale and capacity of its hub operations while serving the national strategies and the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, said a statement released by Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Company Ltd, a Shanghai Stock Exchange-listed company, over the weekend.

The airport, which became the world's busiest airport by passenger throughput in 2020, has maintained its position as China's top airport in terms of passenger throughput for four consecutive years.

And the airport handled 76.369 million passenger visits in 2024, reaching another historic high.

Meanwhile, the airport's transfer passengers hit more than 10 million for the first time, and cargo throughput surpassed 2.38 million metric tons, ranking among the global top 10, said the statement.

The airport has fully leveraged the 144/240-hour transit visa-free policy to attract passenger flow and deepen aviation-tourism collaboration with multiple countries and regions and airlines in the previous years, the statement said.

The airport, which now serves 251 destinations worldwide, has achieved full coverage of the 10 ASEAN countries while launching inaugural new passenger routes to Eastern Europe, Central Asia and South America in the previous five years, it said.

The airport, which has achieved an on-time flight performance rate of 91.6 percent, has implemented the country's first AMDB-based apron management system and become the first to shorten the international flight check-in deadline to 40 minutes, marking a quantum leap in operational efficiency.

Meanwhile, the airport has been ranked first globally in the ACI (Airport Council International) airport service quality survey for five consecutive years, while receiving the "ACI Asia-Pacific Cleanest Airport Award" for the second straight year, said the statement.

And the airport has also made its debut appearance on the GYBrand Top 20 World's Most Valuable Airports list, it said.

The airport successfully hosted the 2025 International Airport Expo, the 7th ACI Global Conference on Airport Experience, and the 10th China Airport Service Conference earlier this year, showcasing the aviation hub to the world.