Recently, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) released the "2025 National Civil Transport Airport Production Statistics Bulletin" (hereinafter referred to as the "Bulletin"). According to the Bulletin, by the end of 2025, there were a total of 270 certified transport airports within China's mainland (data for Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan are collected separately).
The three major production indicators all reached new historical highs for the year. Annual passenger throughput reached 1,529.046 million, cargo and mail throughput reached 21.864 million tons, and aircraft movements totaled 12.448 million, representing a year-on-year growth of 4.8%, 9.0%, and 0.4% respectively. Passenger and cargo throughput on international routes grew rapidly, reaching 117.796 million and 9.871 million tons respectively, up 18.7% and 12.7% year-on-year.
Regarding passenger throughput, there were 41 transport airports with an annual passenger throughput of over 10 million, a net increase of 1 (Jieyang Chaoshan Airport) compared to the previous year. Their combined passenger throughput accounted for 83.7% of the total for all domestic transport airports. Four transport airports had an annual passenger throughput exceeding 60 million, namely Shanghai Pudong International Airport, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Beijing Capital International Airport, and Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport. Several airports achieved throughput milestones. Shanghai Pudong and Guangzhou Baiyun both exceeded 80 million in passenger throughput for the first time, while Beijing Daxing, Hangzhou Xiaoshan, Shanghai Hongqiao, and Chongqing Jiangbei all surpassed 50 million for the first time.
Regarding cargo and mail throughput, there were 35 transport airports with an annual throughput of over 100,000 tons, an increase of 1 compared to the previous year. Their combined throughput accounted for 93.6% of the total for all domestic transport airports. Six transport airports had an annual cargo and mail throughput exceeding 1 million tons, namely Shanghai Pudong, Guangzhou Baiyun, Shenzhen Bao'an, Beijing Capital, Ezhou Huahu, and Zhengzhou Xinzheng. Several transport airports achieved throughput milestones. Shanghai Pudong exceeded 4 million tons for the first time, Shenzhen Bao'an surpassed 2 million tons for the first time, Ezhou Huahu and Zhengzhou Xinzheng both exceeded 1 million tons for the first time, and Chongqing Jiangbei surpassed 500,000 tons for the first time.
From the perspective of distribution of throughput, international hub airports, regional hub airports, and non-hub airports carried 701.948 million, 574.616 million, and 252.482 million passengers respectively, and handled 13.895 million, 5.721 million, and 2.248 million tons of cargo and mail respectively. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei airport cluster, the Yangtze River Delta airport cluster, the Pearl River Delta area (nine cities) within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area airport cluster, and the Chengdu-Chongqing airport cluster transported 158.601 million, 306.441 million, 168.146 million, and 151.48 million passengers respectively, and handled 2.122 million, 6.693 million, 4.541 million, and 1.745 million tons of cargo and mail respectively. Among China's domestic regions, East China accounted for the highest share of both passenger throughput (29.0%) and cargo and mail throughput (35.9%). The Xinjiang region saw a relatively large increase in its share of both passenger and cargo and mail throughput, each rising by 0.3 percentage points.
