Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport
Guangzhou (Huadu) · China · Asia/Shanghai
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Airport HistoryEst. 2004
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport opened on 5 August 2004 in Huadu District, replacing the original Baiyun Airport that had served the city since 1933 and had long since run out of room to grow. Built nearly five times larger than its predecessor and, unlike the old field, operated around the clock without a curfew, the new airport quickly became the main hub of China Southern Airlines and one of mainland China's busiest gateways. It later added a dedicated Asia-Pacific super-hub for FedEx and, through a series of runway and terminal expansions, grew into one of only a handful of airports worldwide with a five-runway layout by the mid-2020s.
The first Guangzhou Baiyun Airport opened north of the city, becoming one of China's earliest civil airports and, decades later, mainland China's busiest for eight consecutive years before it outgrew its site.
Work started on a much larger replacement airport roughly 28 km north of downtown Guangzhou, funded in part by a loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.
The new Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport opened on 5 August 2004 with two runways and round-the-clock operations, and the 71-year-old original airport closed the same day.
FedEx Express opened its Asia-Pacific super-hub at Baiyun, its largest sorting and distribution facility outside the United States, after signing the relocation agreement in 2005.
A third, landing-only runway opened in February 2015 to help relieve congestion, constrained in its use by airspace shared with nearby Foshan Shadi Airport.
A large new Terminal 2, designed for around 45 million annual passengers, opened in April 2018 and was later awarded a 5-Star rating by Skytrax.
Pandemic-driven disruption at major hubs elsewhere meant Baiyun handled more passengers than any other airport in the world for part of 2020, an unusual byproduct of COVID-era travel patterns rather than organic growth.
A fourth runway opened in January 2025 and a fifth in October 2025 alongside a new Terminal 3, giving Baiyun one of the largest runway systems of any airport in the world.
Editorial content based on public airport, government and industry records; the 2025 runway and terminal openings and related passenger-ranking figures are very recent and should be treated as time-sensitive.