Chengdu passed Guangzhou as China's third-busiest air city
Airport passengers per city, all its airports, millions, 2015 vs 2025: China's eight busiest air cities of 2015.
- 1. China now builds more ships than everyone else combined
- 2. China makes more electricity than the US and EU combined
- 3. China installs more robots than everyone else combined
- 4. China is building half the world's new reactors
- 5. China switched on 80% of the world's new coal power
- 6. China's vehicle exports grew sevenfold in five years
- 7. Six of the world's ten busiest ports are in China
- 8. China completed six in ten of 2025's new skyscrapers
- 9. China has more metro track than the next six combined
- 10. China refines most of the minerals of the future
- 11. China's new housing starts have fallen 74% since 2019
- 12. China is building more power capacity than everyone else combined
- 13. China now emits more CO2 per person than Japan
- 14. Nearly 20 million Shanghai residents live in a flood zone
- 15. Fewer countries owe China more than the World Bank
- 16. Anhui tripled vehicle output while most old leaders made fewer
- 17. 20 of China's 31 provinces have more deaths than births
- 18. Emerging economies now take 42% of China's electric car exports
- 19. World economy's centre has moved 1,900 km east since 2000
- 20. China passed Denmark as top supplier of imported wind turbines
- 21. Sichuan fell from first to fourth among China's computer makers
- 22. China holds most government-to-government loans in 36 countries
- 23. Chengdu passed Guangzhou as China's third-busiest air city
Passengers through Chengdu's two airports in 2025, up from 42.2 million in 2015. Guangzhou's airport handled 83.6 million.
Chengdu's rise from 2015 to 2025, against +67% for all of China's airports and +31% to +51% for Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Passengers at Tianfu, Chengdu's second airport, opened in 2021. Chengdu has led Guangzhou since 2023; the lead narrowed to 6.6 million in 2025.
the numbers & method
| 2015 (M) | 2025 (M) | |
|---|---|---|
| Shanghai | 99.2 | 135.1 |
| Beijing | 95.2 | 124.4 |
| Chengdu | 42.2 | 90.2 |
| Guangzhou | 55.2 | 83.6 |
| Shenzhen | 39.7 | 66.5 |
| Chongqing | 32.4 | 50.1 |
| Kunming | 37.5 | 49.7 |
| Xi'an | 33.0 | 48.5 |
Claim types Fact
Fact, with progrss sums. CAAC, 民航机场生产统计公报 (airport production statistics bulletins), passenger throughput (旅客吞吐量: arriving plus departing passengers, all routes) per airport, 2015 and 2025 editions, read from the CAAC statistics pages via the progrss vault, live re-read failed (GUIDELINES §4.11; caac-china 8 matches, 0 mismatches). City totals are progrss sums of every airport CAAC lists under the city: Chengdu = Shuangliu 33,518,945 + Tianfu 56,686,738 = 90,205,683 in 2025 (Shuangliu alone 42,239,468 in 2015; Tianfu opened in 2021); Guangzhou = Baiyun only, 55,201,915 (2015) and 83,582,952 (2025); Shanghai = Pudong + Hongqiao, 99,188,938 and 135,145,573; Beijing = Capital + Nanyuan in 2015 (95,204,250; Nanyuan closed in 2019) and Capital + Daxing in 2025 (124,361,661); Shenzhen 39,721,619 and 66,485,213; Kunming 37,523,098 and 49,705,725; Xi'an 32,970,215 and 48,535,594; Chongqing = Jiangbei (32,402,196 in 2015) plus the small Wushan and Xiannüshan airports in 2025 (50,136,716). All Chinese airports: 914,773,311 passengers in 2015 (206 airports), 1,529,045,687 in 2025 (266 airports), +67%. Changes 2015 to 2025: Chengdu +114%, Guangzhou +51%, Shanghai +36%, Beijing +31%. Chengdu's share of all passengers 4.6% to 5.9%; Guangzhou's 6.0% to 5.5%. Chengdu vs Guangzhou in the years around the turn: 2019 55.9 vs 73.4 million; 2023 74.9 vs 63.2; 2024 87.3 vs 76.4; 2025 90.2 vs 83.6 (Chengdu's lead narrowed in 2025). The pandemic years 2020–2022 are not used as a base or an end; Chengdu was also briefly ahead in 2021, when travel was restricted. Hangzhou (28.4 million in 2015, 50.5 million in 2025) is not in the 2015 top eight but ranks sixth in 2025. Rank among cities is by city sums. Plates only: CAAC commercial terms not stated. Interpretation: none; no cause is claimed.
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