Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport

Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (IATA: CKG, ICAO: ZUCK) is located in the Yubei District of Chongqing, People's Republic of China. The airport's IATA Airport code, CKG, is derived from the city's former romanized name, Chungking. Jiangbei airport is also a 72-hour transit visa-free airport for foreigners from many countries. In 2017, it was awarded first place in the "Best Airport in the 25–40 Million Passenger Size" category by Airports Council International.[3]

Situated 19 kilometres (12 mi) north of the city centre of Chongqing, the airport is a major aviation hub for airlines in western China, including China Express Airlines, China Southern Airlines(Chongqing Airlines), Sichuan Airlines, Shandong Airlines, XiamenAir and China West Air. Chongqing is a focus city of Air China and Hainan Airlines.

The airport is operating three terminals: Terminal 2 serving domestic flights and Terminal 3A other domestic flights and all international flights while Terminal 1 is currently closed. The first, second, and third phases of the airport came into operation in January 1990, December 2004, and December 2010, respectively. Terminal 2 is capable of handling 15 million passengers and Terminal 3A is able to handle 45 million passengers annually.[4]

In terms of passenger traffic, Jiangbei Airport was the ninth-busiest airport nationwide in 2018, handling 41,595,887 passengers with a year-on-year growth of 7.4 percent. The airport was the eighth-busiest airport by traffic movementsand tenth-busiest airport by cargo traffic in China in 2016.

History

The civil aviation of Chongqing dates back to the 1920s. After the completion of Baishiyi Airport in 1938, Chongqing became one of the four cities in China that had an airport in operation. In 1950, four flight routes from Tianjin, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Kunming to Chongqing became the earliest to be opened after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. In 1965, the Civil Aviation Administration of China opened an office in Sichuan Province and Chongqing Airport became subject to it. The development of Chongqing's civil aviation then stopped until the 1990s.[5]

On 22 January 1990, the new airport, Chongqing Jiangbei Airport was opened to replace the old Baishiyi Airport. The development of the civil aviation resumed. In 1997, when the Chongqing area became the 4th municipality of China, Civil Aviation Administration of China established a branch in Chongqing in the same year.

Development

Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport is currently undergoing a major expansion, with a vision of obtaining a major international air hub and becoming the largest airport in western China by 2030.[6] Jiangbei Airport has been outlined ambitious growth plans, competing with Chengdu Airport, Kunming Airport, Wuhan Airport and Xi'an Airport to be recognized as the nation's fourth largest aviation hub (after those hubs in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou).

Jiangbei Airport was reported to have reached the fastest growth rates since 2011, according to CAPA's Airport Traffic Benchmark Tool. On 1 November 2015, the annual passengers at Jiangbei Airport exceeded 30 million for the first time.

Airport expansion

The expansion project Phase III, which included a second runway and an additional Terminal, T2, started construction in 2007 and completed in 2010. Major elements of the construction were adding a second runway of 3,200 meters (which was later lengthened to 3,600 meters to satisfy the landings and takeoffs of Boeing 747 and the demands of Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.) to the east of the existing runway, building a parallel taxiway in between the two runways, and setting up a visual aid lighting support system. It also added a second terminal building (T2) with an area of 86,000 square meters, 41 apron aircraft parking stands, and a freight station and support facilities occupying an area of 20,000 square metres (220,000 sq ft). It cost CNY3.3 billion (USD538 million).[7] On 22 December 2010, the second runway was commissioned, which made Jiangbei Airport the fourth airport in mainland China to operate two runways, one exclusively for departures and the other exclusively for arrivals.[citation needed]

The current major expansion - Phase IV - of Jiangbei Airport contains the construction of a third runway and a new terminal, T3A, which is expected to be 530,000 square meters,[8] more than double the size of the existing terminals (T1 and T2A/T2B) combined, costing CNY26.0 billion (USD4.1 billion). T3A is expected to be completed by the end of 2016, after which the airport will have more than 725,000 square meters of terminal floor space, ranking Jiangbei Airport among China's 15 largest airports with an annual passenger capacity of 60 million and an annual cargo capacity of 2 million tons.[citation needed] Half of the new terminal is currently planned for international flights from major cities in South East Asia, East Asia, Middle East, Africa, Europe, and North America. After the completion of expansion Phase IV, Jiangbei Airport will become the 4th airport in China (inc. Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) that has three runways in operation, of which Runway #3 (03/21) will be operated independently on top of the pair #1 (02L/20R) and #2 (02R/20L).

There is a fifth phase of expansion planned for Jiangbei Airport which is expected to include a new terminal, namely T3B, and a fourth runway. This phase will be finished in the mid-2020s.[citation needed]

Note: Remote bays include the ones that serve the air freighters.

Surge in cargo traffic

Cargo traffic increased at an average rate of 14% in the first six months of 2011, driven by exponential growth in international cargo. International cargo/mail volumes increased by 12 times from 2010 levels in the first half of 2011, to more than 9000 tonnes. In the second half of 2011, this growth rate is expected to be maintained, with Hewlett-Packard, Asus and other brands of large international IT production capacity supporting the increase, to an anticipated 60,000 to 80,000 tonnes of international cargo throughout the whole year.[9]

New international routes

Before 2010, Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport's international destinations all terminated in East and Southeast Asia, including direct flights to Tokyo (has stop-over in Beijing or Shanghai), Seoul, Singapore, Bangkok, Phuket, Siem Reap, etc. However, this situation was changed in 2011 with Qatar Airways and Finnair opening new routes to Doha and Helsinki, respectively.[10][11]

With the new T3A terminal in operation since August 2017,[12] the airport has had multiple new international routes with non-stop flights to London, Dubai, Los Angeles, New York, Sydney, Melbourne, Rome, Paris, etc.[13] T3A Terminal and the third runway of Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport started operation at 06:00 on August 29, 2017. In the meantime, T1 was temporarily closed, T2 only for domestic flights of Sichuan Airlines, West Airlines, Huaxia Airlines and Spring Airlines, and the remaining flights were transferred to T3A. In addition, the airport operates a free trans-shipment shuttle between T2 and T3A in a 24-hour operation.[14]

Statistics

Year	Passengers		Ranking by PAX		Cargo		Aircraft operations
	Number	Increase	Domestic	Global	Tons	Increase	Number	Increase
2000	2,780,359	13.3%	11	-	62,214.5	2.2%	36,405	1.4%
2001	3,192,759	14.8%	11	-	64,597.1	3.8%	41,192	13.1%
2002	3,865,788	21.1%	12	-	71,464.9	10.6%	49,012	19.0%
2003	4,287,505	10.9%	12	-	76,921.5	7.6%	56,108	14.5%
2004	5,233,774	22.1%	12	-	87,568.0	13.8%	64,750	15.4%
2005	6,631,420	26.7%	11	-	100,909.9	15.2%	72,674	12.2%
2006	8,050,007	21.4%	10	-	120,178.3	19.1%	88,929	22.4%
2007	10,355,730	28.6%	10	-	143,472.4	19.4%	105,092	18.2%
2008	11,138,432	7.6%	10	-	160,256.4	11.7%	112,565	7.1%
2009	14,038,045	26.0%	10	91	186,005.9	16.1%	132,619	17.8%
2010	15,802,334	12.6%	10	90	195,686.6	5.2%	145,705	9.9%
2011	19,052,706	20.6%	9	76	237,572.5	21.4%	166,763	14.5%
2012	22,057,003	15.8%	9	70	268,642.4	13.1%	195,333	17.1%
2013	25,272,039	14.6%	9	62	280,149.8	4.3%	214,574	9.9%
2014	29,264,363	15.8%	8	57	302,335.8	7.9%	238,085	11.0%
2015	32,402,196	10.7%	9	-	318,781.5	5.4%	254,360	7.4%
2016	35,888,819	10.8%	9	54[15]	361,091.0	13.3%	276,807	8.4%
2017	38,715,210	7.9%	9	51[16]	366,278.3	1.4%	288,598	4.3%
2018	41,595,887	7.4%	9	-	382,160.8	4.3%	300,745	4.2%

Source: CAAC (Civil Aviation Administration of China)

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines operate regular scheduled flights to and from Chongqing

Cargo[edit source]

Ground transportation

The airport's ground transportation is developing very fast. Four highways around the airport are under construction, as part of plans to turn Chongqing into an integrated regional transport hub in western China.[66] There will be a 300,000-square-meter (3,200,000 sq ft) transportation transfer centre in T3A, which will include inter-city rail, light rail and subway.

General plan of integrated transportation Hub at Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport:

• One inter-city rail: Branch of Chongqing-Wanzhou Inter-City Rail
• Two lines of Chongqing Rail Transit: CRT Line 3 and Line 10
• Three latitudinal roadways: (1) outer ring expressway, (2) relocated National Highway G319, and (3) southern connecting freeway
• Four longitudinal roadways: (1) first freeway of CKG Airport (National Highway G210), (2) second freeway of CKG Airport (under construction), (3) Chongqing-Linshui expressway, and (4) northern connecting roadway

Bus

Airport bus

Airport Express lines are easily accessible at Terminal 2 and 3.

• Route K01: Jiangbei Airport → Jiazhou (加州）→ Damiao（大庙）→ Shangqingsi（上清寺）→ Chongqing Great Hall → Jiefangbei (解放碑). It takes about 50 minutes from the airport to the city centre (Jiefangbei).
• Route K02: Jiangbei Airport → Qixia Road (栖霞路）→ North Square of Chongqingbei Railway Station. 40 minutes may be taken from the airport to the High-Speed railway station.
• Route K03: Jiangbei Airport → Yanggongqiao (Shapingba)
• Route K05: Jiangbei Airport → Sigongli Bus Terminal
• Route K06: Jiangbei Airport → Chongqing West Railway Station
• Route K07: Jiangbei Airport → Shapingba Railway Station[67][68]

Long-distance coaches

There is a transfer center for long-distance coaches between Terminal 2A and Terminal 2B, and it offers bus services to nearby cities in Sichuan and Guizhou Province, as well as suburban areas of Chongqing Municipality.

Car

There is currently one airport freeway connecting the city center with the airport, and the second one is under construction and will be put into operation in the late 2016.[citation needed] The airport freeway is 23 kilometers long, but it usually takes as many as 30 minutes to get from the city center to the airport because of the heavy traffic.

Parking

The airport has four parking lots:

• International (Outdoor) Parking Lot, located in front of Terminal 1
• Domestic (Outdoor) Parking Lot, located in front of Terminal 2
• Underground (Indoor) Parking Lot, located under Terminal 2
• Central Parking Garage, located in the transportation hub in front of Terminal 3

All together, the airport can accommodate about 7,300 cars at one time.[69] [70]

Rail

Chongqing Rail Transit

Chongqing Rail Transit Line 3 runs from Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport's Terminal 2 station, going through the city center via Lianglukou station and onto its final stop, Yudong, covering a distance of 60 kilometres (37 mi). It takes around 50 minutes to get to the city center (Lianglukou).[71]

Line 10, serves as the second metro line connecting the urban areas of Chongqing and the airport. [72] One station of Line 10 is at Terminal 3 and the other is at Terminal 2. This line runs under Runways #1 (02L/20R) and #2 (02R/20L), connecting Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 in landside. Line 10 is the only metro line access to the new Terminal 3, while Line 3 will not be elongated to Terminal 3. Line 10 also reduces the travel distance between Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport and Chongqingbei Railway Station, which can facilitate the transfers of passengers between air and rail.

InterCity

Terminal 3A has a huge underground railway station that will open in 2019 that will connect cities as far as 300 kilometers away, thus allowing Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport to serve a significantly larger population. The speed of the trains is designed to be 250 to 300 kilometers per hour, allowing journeys to take less than one hour from a relatively faraway locations within the Greater Chongqing Municipality.[73]

Other facilities

The headquarters of China Express Airlines are on the airport property.[74]