Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport (IATA: XMN, ICAO: ZSAM) is an international airport serving the city of Xiamen in East China’s Fujian province. It is the main airline hub for XiamenAir and TAECO, an aircraft maintenance provider. It is located on the north side of Xiamen Island, 10 km (6.2 mi) away from the city's downtown area. It was originally built by Japanese forces during their occupation of China, and was later converted to exclusive civilian use once the Japanese surrendered World War II. A couple of renovations were made in the early- to mid-1950s under the Communist government, but the airport laid abandoned until after a second renovation in 1955 due to fears of shelling from the nearby Kinmen Island of the Nationalists.
Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport 厦门高崎国际机场 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Operator | Xiamen International Airport Group Co., Ltd. (XIAGC) | ||||||||||
| Serves | Xiamen | ||||||||||
| Location | Huli, Xiamen, Fujian, China | ||||||||||
| Opened | 22 October 1983 | ||||||||||
| Hub for | XiamenAir | ||||||||||
| Focus city for |
| ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 18 m / 59 ft | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 24°32′39″N 118°07′40″E / 24.54417°N 118.12778°E | ||||||||||
| Maps | |||||||||||
CAAC airport chart | |||||||||||
XMN/ZSAM Location in Fujian XMN/ZSAM Location in China | |||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Statistics (2024) | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Source: List of the busiest airports in the People's Republic of China | |||||||||||
| Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 厦门高崎国际机场 | ||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 廈門高崎國際機場 | ||||||||||||
| Hokkien POJ | Ē-mn̂g Kò-kiâ Kok-chè Ki-tiû | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
In 1983, the airport re-opened with funding from the Kuwait Fund for further renovations and construction, and over the next decade passenger traffic rapidly increased so that it warranted the construction of Terminal 2 in 1993. In 1996, Terminal 3 was opened. Terminal 1 was demolished in 2012, and at the same time, Terminal 2 became the domestic area for Terminal 3. Construction of Terminal 4 started in October 2011 and was completed in 2014.
In 2024, Gaoqi Airport was listed as the 14th busiest airport in China in terms of cargo traffic, and the 17th busiest in terms of passenger traffic with 27,906,946 passengers, and the 19th busiest airport by traffic movements.
In 2026, the airport will be shut down once Xiamen Xiang'an International Airport is completed and commences operations.
History
Early history
During Japanese occupation in World War II in 1941, the Japanese constructed the airport east of Gaoqi Village as a military airfield to defend against the U.S. military. It at the same time also served scheduled flights between Xiamen and Taipei, Fuzhou, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. After the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the airport was reclaimed by the Nationalist government, who converted it for civilian use. It was now under the management of the Xiamen office of the Civil Aviation Administration. In February of 1949, the management was transferred to the Republic of China Air Force who established the 242nd Supply Detachment to manage the airport. On August 24 that year, the last plane departed the airport carrying high-ranking Nationalist officials en route to Taipei before it shut down due to the People's Liberation Army occupying the area.
After the PLA occupied the Mainland, the airport underwent maintenance and expansion to prepare for military operations against Taiwan, which was completed in 1952. In 1955, it underwent a second renovation. However, due to the airport being close to the attack radius of Kinmen Island, the airport never reopened, and henceforth was left abandoned.
Current airport
In 1982, the airport received a loan of the equivalent of 21 million U.S. Dollars from the Kuwait Fund to fund the expansion with the assistance of the then-director of the National Development and Reform Commission Jiang Zemin. The expansion commenced on January of 1982, and the airport was re-opened on October 22, 1983 as the first airport to be built with foreign funding and managed by a local government.
Once the airport was re-opened, Terminal 1 officially commenced operations with CAAC flight 265 bound for Shanghai being the first flight to take off to massive fanfare. In April of 1987, after the airport completed a 550 m (1,800 ft) extension via land reclamation, the total length of the runway became 2,700 m (8,900 ft).[citation needed] In October of 1993, Terminal 2 was built and opened to supplement Terminal 1. On November 8, 1996, Terminal 3 was opened, becoming the largest and the most state-of-the-art passenger air terminal in Mainland China at the time.
On May 5, 2012, the renovated Terminal 2 was re-opened as a section of Terminal 3 to serve domestic flights, with Terminal 1 becoming demolished and the area being turned into parking space. On December 8, 2014, the airport surpassed the 20 million passenger throughput threshold. On December 28, 2014, Terminal 4 was opened, making the airport capable of operating with two terminals.
At 2:00 a.m. local time on December 4, 2017, an Air France A380 became the first of the type to land at Xiamen, with the reason being for maintenance being done by the Xiamen Taikoo Aircraft Engineering Co, Ltd.
To prevent the spread of inbound COVID-19 cases from abroad, the second international/Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan arrival area located in the former Terminal 2 commenced operations on October 23, 2021 to manage arriving passengers from the given areas. It has seven sections: the customs epidemiological investigation area, sampling area, disinfection area, symptomatic medical screening area, border inspection hall, baggage claim and inspection area, and logistics office area. It also features an independent partitioned air conditioning system. The border inspection area is divided into two sections: passengers requiring medical attention or transfer are inspected in a dedicated inspection room on the second floor; normal passengers complete entry procedures in the inspection hall on the first floor. The waiting and inspection halls cover approximately 700 m2 (7,500 sq ft) and has 12 manual inspection areas and one staff-only inspection area, all equipped with intelligent verification desks, translation machines, and intelligent gate systems. At 6:00 a.m. on January 8, 2023, the arrival area ceased operations. Simultaneously, the international/Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan arrival area at Terminal 3 resumed operation, and all flights and passengers from the given areas proceed there for immigration and customs.
New destinations
KLM began the first intercontinental route out of Xiamen, to Amsterdam, on March 27, 2011. Since then, long-haul traffic has expanded, with XiamenAir launching flights to Amsterdam, Sydney, Melbourne, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Paris and Doha after taking delivery of the Boeing 787.
New airport and closure
Following the opening of Terminal 4, Gaoqi Airport can no longer expand. As such, a new airport is currently under construction on Dadeng Island, Xiang'an District, currently known as Xiamen Xiang'an International Airport. When completed in late 2026, it will have two new runways, a 550,000 m2 (140 acres) terminal, and be able to handle up to 45 million passengers, and have subway links to the Xiamen Railway Station. Gaoqi Airport will shut down all civilian operations once Xiang'an Airport opens.
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| 9 Air | Guiyang |
| Aero Dili | Dili |
| Air Chang'an | Ezhou, Xi'an, Xinyang |
| Air China | Beijing–Capital, Beijing–Daxing, Chengdu–Shuangliu, Chengdu–Tianfu, Chongqing, Guiyang, Tianjin, Wuhan, Zhengzhou |
| Air Guilin | Guilin |
| Air Macau | Macau |
| Air Travel | Wuxi |
| Batik Air Malaysia | Kuala Lumpur–International |
| Beijing Capital Airlines | Beijing–Daxing, Huangshan, Lijiang, Shenyang, Urumqi, Xi'an, Zhengzhou |
| Cathay Pacific | Hong Kong |
| Chengdu Airlines | Chengdu—Shuangliu, Chengdu–Tianfu, Jinggangshan |
| China Eastern Airlines | Beijing–Daxing, Changzhou, Chengdu–Tianfu, Hefei, Kunming, Lanzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai–Hongqiao, Shanghai–Pudong, Shiyan, Taiyuan, Wuhan, Wuxi, Xi'an, Yantai, Yulin (Shaanxi), Zhengzhou, Zhoushan |
| China Express Airlines | Xi'an, Xiangyang |
| China Southern Airlines | Beijing–Daxing, Dalian, Enshi, Guangzhou, Guiyang, Haikou, Harbin, Nanning, Shenyang, Urumqi, Weihai, Wuhan, Zhengzhou |
| China United Airlines | Beijing–Daxing, Shijiazhuang |
| Chongqing Airlines | Changsha, Chongqing |
| Dalian Airlines | Beijing–Capital |
| Fuzhou Airlines | Hami, Harbin, Zhengzhou, Zhoushan |
| GX Airlines | Nanning |
| Hainan Airlines | Beijing–Capital, Changsha, Chongqing, Haikou, Harbin, Hefei, Lanzhou, Shenyang, Taiyuan, Ürümqi, Wuhan, Xi'an, Yan'an, Zhengzhou |
| Hebei Airlines | Hohhot, Shijiazhuang |
| Jiangxi Air | Nanchang, Zhengzhou |
| Juneyao Airlines | Nanjing, Shanghai–Hongqiao, Shanghai–Pudong |
| Korean Air | Seoul–Incheon |
| Kunming Airlines | Kunming |
| Lucky Air | Chengdu–Tianfu, Kunming |
| Malaysia Airlines | Kuala Lumpur–International |
| Mandarin Airlines | Kaohsiung, Taipei–Taoyuan |
| Okay Airways | Changsha |
| Philippine Airlines | Manila |
| Shandong Airlines | Baotou, Beijing–Capital, Changchun, Changsha, Chengdu–Shuangliu, Chengdu–Tianfu, Chongqing, Dalian, Dongying, Guangzhou, Guilin, Guiyang, Haikou, Hangzhou, Harbin, Hohhot, Jakarta–Soekarno-Hatta, Jinan, Jingdezhen, Kunming, Lanzhou, Linyi, Nanjing, Qingdao, Rizhao, Shanghai–Hongqiao, Shenyang, Shiyan, Taiyuan, Tianjin, Ürümqi, Wuhan, Xi'an, Xuzhou, Yantai, Yinchuan, Zhengzhou, Zhoushan |
| Shanghai Airlines | Shanghai–Hongqiao |
| Shenzhen Airlines | Harbin, Nantong, Shenyang, Yangzhou |
| Sichuan Airlines | Changsha, Chengdu–Shuangliu, Chengdu–Tianfu, Chongqing, Kunming |
| Singapore Airlines | Singapore |
| Spring Airlines | Bangkok–Don Mueang, Changchun, Handan, Lanzhou, Osaka–Kansai, Shanghai–Hongqiao, Shenyang, Shijiazhuang, Yangzhou |
| Tianjin Airlines | Anqing, Chizhou, Dalian, Haikou, Urumqi, Weihai, Xi'an, Yichang, Yueyang, Yulin (Shaanxi), Zunyi–Xinzhou |
| Tibet Airlines | Chengdu–Shuangliu |
| Uni Air | Taipei–Songshan |
| West Air | Chongqing, Zhengzhou |
| XiamenAir | Amsterdam, Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi, Beijing–Daxing, Changchun, Changsha, Chengdu–Tianfu, Chongqing, Dalian, Denpasar, Doha, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Guilin, Guiyang, Haikou, Hangzhou, Hanoi, Harbin, Hefei, Hengyang, Ho Chi Minh City, Hohhot, Hong Kong, Huai'an, Jakarta–Soekarno-Hatta, Jinan, Jingzhou, Kaohsiung, Kuala Lumpur–International, Kunming, Lanzhou, Lhasa, Lianyungang, Lijiang, Liuzhou, Los Angeles, Luzhou, Macau, Malé, Manila, Melbourne, Mianyang, Nanchong, Nanjing, Nanning, Ningbo, Osaka–Kansai, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Penang, Phnom Penh, Qingdao, Sanya, Seoul–Incheon, Shanghai–Hongqiao, Shenyang, Shenzhen, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei–Songshan, Taipei–Taoyuan, Taiyuan, Tianjin, Tokyo–Narita, Ürümqi, Vancouver, Wanzhou, Wenzhou, Wuhan, Wuyishan, Xi'an, Xinzhou, Xishuangbanna, Yancheng, Yangon, Yinchuan, Yuncheng, Zhengzhou, Zhoushan, Zhuhai, Zunyi–Maotai |
Cargo
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| ANA Cargo | Tokyo–Narita |
| Cargolux | Beijing–Capital, Luxembourg |
| Cathay Cargo | Hong Kong, Shanghai–Pudong |
| Central Airlines | Paris–Charles de Gaulle |
| China Cargo Airlines | Osaka–Kansai |
| Ethiopian Cargo | São Paulo–Guarulhos |
| Hong Kong Air Cargo | Hong Kong, Shanghai–Pudong |
| Korean Air Cargo | Seoul–Incheon |
| MSC Air Cargo | Anchorage, Seoul–Incheon |
| Suparna Airlines Cargo | Clark, Shanghai–Pudong |
See also
wikipedia, wiki, encyclopedia, book, library, article, read, free download, Information about Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport, What is Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport? What does Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport mean?