Chengdu became only the third Chinese city to pass 90 million annual airport passengers in 2025 — after Beijing and Shanghai. Tianfu, opened in June 2021, hit 56.7 million just four years in; Shuangliu has been repositioned as the premium business airport. Phase 2 planning points at 120 million.
Chengdu Tianfu International Airport opened in June 2021 with a 60-million design capacity — and nearly filled it in four years: 13.3 million in 2022, 44.8 million in 2023, 54.9 million in 2024, 56.7 million in 2025. It ranks fifth among Chinese airports and first in central and western China, and already sits among the world's top-30 busiest.
Tianfu carries all of Chengdu's international flying: 25 international routes were launched, resumed or up-gauged in 2025 alone, adding over 800,000 passenger trips. The plan to 2028 targets 85+ international routes and 58 million passengers; the Phase 2 expansion would add roughly 50 million capacity — effectively a second new airport on the same site, toward a 120-million long-term vision.
Shuangliu, the older airport 16 km from the center, has been deliberately refocused: premium business express routes to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Urumqi, Lhasa, Hangzhou and Nanjing — flights that account for the majority of business demand and keep the airport close to where the money is.
The two-airport complementarity is the strategy: Tianfu takes growth and international, Shuangliu takes frequency and proximity. Together they lifted Chengdu from 70 million (2023) to 80 million (2024) to 90+ million (2025) — three consecutive 10-million steps.
Tianfu sits 50+ km southeast in Jianyang: Metro Line 18 runs from South Railway Station (fast services), Line 19 links both airports rail-to-rail, and airport buses fill the gaps. Budget 60–80 minutes from the center; after late evening, plan on a long taxi.
Shuangliu is the easy airport: 16 km out, on Metro Lines 10 and 30 (Line 30 opened December 2025, tunneled under the live apron), 20–30 minutes to the city. If your flight offers both, and you're staying central, Shuangliu wins on time.
The airport choice matters more in Chengdu than in any other Chinese city, because the two airports are 70 km apart. Rule of thumb: international and most full-service domestic = Tianfu; premium shuttles to the big business cities = often Shuangliu. Check the airport code (TFU vs CTU) before booking ground transport or an airport hotel. And if you're connecting onward to Tibet — Lhasa flights concentrate at Shuangliu, and morning departures make an airport-area night before genuinely rational, which is exactly the niche Novotel Jianyang-style supply is being built to serve.
Subscribe to the digest and receive key market signals every two weeks.