Shenzhen Bao'an: the airport that swapped three terminals for one flying fish
Shenzhen's airport opened on 12 October 1991 on the east bank of the Pearl River. In November 2013 it shut all three of its old terminals and opened a single enormous replacement the very next day, a building locals nicknamed the giant flying fish. It now ranks among the busiest airports in mainland China.
Known as Huangtian Airport until 2001, it lies in Bao'an District, 32 kilometres northwest of the city centre, and covers 10.8 square kilometres. Shenzhen Airlines, China Southern, Donghai and the freight carrier SF Airlines use it as a hub, and UPS runs an Asia-Pacific cargo base there. In 2023 it handled 52,734,934 passengers, fourth in the mainland, and 1,600,347.7 tonnes of freight, twentieth worldwide for cargo. Its first long-haul route, Air China to Frankfurt, only began on 21 May 2016.
The old set-up was cramped. Terminals A and B dealt mostly with domestic flights, and the international Terminal D, opened in December 2008, had no gates of its own, relying on buses to ferry travellers to remote stands. All three closed on 27 November 2013, and the new building took over on 28 November.
Work on it started early in 2008 as a showpiece for the 2011 Summer Universiade. Designed by Studio Fuksas, it stretches 1.6 kilometres, spreads 450,000 square metres over four floors above ground and two below, and can take any aircraft type, handling about 14,000 people an hour at peak and 45 million a year. It kept its construction name, Terminal 3, only until it became the sole terminal. An Aedas-designed satellite concourse joined in December 2021, linked by an automated people mover and built for 22 million passengers a year.
Growth continued outside too: a second runway in 2011 and a third on 29 November 2025. Underground, Metro Line 11 stops beneath the terminal, while a separate Airport North Station, dug for a future Terminal 4, cannot currently be reached from any airport facility. Ferries run straight to Hong Kong's airport, letting passengers transfer without clearing immigration or customs.
Source: Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport
