Xiamen Airport is a major aviation hub in the eastern region of China, second only to Shanghai. It has opened 91 domestic and international air routes, which are served by 34 airlines at the airport, among which 15 passenger and cargo air routes connect
Xiamen to Japan, South Korea, South East Asia, the U.S.A., three to Hong Kong and Macao. 74 domestic air routes are available to all major cities of China. The airport has opened the one-flight-passenger-service (i.e. passengers don't need to change flight) from Xiamen via Macao to Taipei.

International Air Services:
Departure from Xiamen: Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Osaka, Bangkok, Jakarta, Penang, Nagoya

Via Xiamen: Singapore-Xiamen-Chicago?Beijing-Xiamen-Singapore,
Beijing-Xiamen-Manila, Shanghai-Xiamen-Kuala Lumpur

Xiamen Airport passenger throughput totaled over 4.29 million in 2003, ranking the 10th in China, of which international passengers amounted to 0.97 million, ranking the 4th of its sort in China for 12 consecutive years.

The State Post Bureau has rated Xiamen as one of the five biggest national hub ports. There are scheduled post flights everyday between Xiamen and Shanghai, bringing about countrywide mail exchange. Xiamen Airport handled 150,200 tons of airmail freight in 2003, ranking the 8th in China.

Xiamen airport has First-class Export Warehouse of the Customs, providing integrated service of goods collecting and delivery, customs declaration and inspection application.

(2000)

Airport and Air Transport

On April the 28th, the 2nd phase of expansion of Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport passed the state appraisals. 28 of the 40 items of the project were granted titles as excellent and the rest were satisfactory. 97% of the project was well-done. Following completion, Gaoqi International Airport was upgraded to 4E level and ready for large-scale airplanes including B747-400. There were one 3400-metre-long runway, one 3300-metre-long sliding lane and 7 association lanes. The parking apron covered an area of 250,000 square metres capable of holding 40 large-scale airplanes. The terminal building had an area of 149,000 square metres. The annual handling capacity amounted to 10 million passengers with 4000 passengers per hour in peak time. 31.12 million RMB was invested in construction of Aviation Conrol center and the new Aviation Control Building and Tower had been completed. On Aug. the 30th, Xiamen Takoo Aircraft Engineering Company offered the B737 passenger-for-cargo conversion business for a Japanese airline, the first time this kind of business had been available out of American soil and China had conducted this kind of business.

By the end of 2000, Xiamen International Airport had had air links with 54 domestic and international cities and 102 air routes were opened, up 70%. Among them, there were 58 domestic routes and 8 international routes to countries and regions including Singapore, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Osaka, and Bangkok. There were 1326 flights per week. For the whole year, 44,505 flights departed or arrived in Xiame safely with a total volume of passengers handled reaching 3.5515 million, up 5.07%. The air freight handled amounted to 99,464.7 tons, up 1.26%.
Xiamen International Airport Group had offered special vehicles and related service for 206,975 times. 23,853 operations were registered for airstair service. The cargos, mails and luggage loaded or unloaded amounted to 45,666.8 tons. The group broadcast in due time information for 43,429 flights. 37,990 flights were correctly and safely guided to the apron. For consecutive 18 years, the airplane maintenance center had made no mistake in checking the airplanes.

For the full year, Xiamen Airlines had registered a flying record of 67,251 hours. The rate of accidental indication per 10,000 hours was zero. The figure of the weight of freight multiplied by mileage was 351,360,000, up 10.3%. The passengers handled amounted to 3.515 million, up 7.6%. The volume of cargo, mails and luggage reached 76,000 tons, up 5.4%. For the whole year, 66,544 hours were registered for transport service, up 9.7%. The airplanes had an average flying time of 8.8 hours, up 0.5 hours over 1999.

Airport and Air Transport

Air Transportation

Xiamen airport is one of top 6 airports in China. 26 airlines including 5 foreign airlines have their regular flights in Xiamen airport. They are:
China Airline. South Airline, Xiamen Airline, North Airline, South-West Airline, East Airline, North-West Airline, Hainan Airline, General Airline, Zhejiang Airline, Yunnan Airline, Shanghai Airline, Shenzhen Airline, Xinjiang Airline, Central China Airline, Wuhan Airline, Sichuan Airline, Guizhou Airline, Xinhua Airline, Shandong Airline, Post Airline, Dragon Airline, Philippine Airline, Singapore Airline, ANA Japan ,Japan Airline and Korea Airline.

At present, there are109 domestic air routes and 9 international & regional routes, with more than 380 flights from Xiamen per week.
For Cargo transportation, the airport provides customs-supervised warehouse with one window service on goods picking up, delivering and the Customs clearance and inspection application.

Port - to - port cargo transportation services are provided for 30 domestic and 4 international air routes, including direct route to Nagoya of Japan.
Cargo delivery reaches every place in all over China and the world through Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Hong Kong, Singapore and Macau airports.

Xiamen has flights to Taipei through stopover Macau and Hong Kong.

Aviation Industrial Area
Xiamen Aviation Industrial Area lies next to Xiamen International Airport and occupies an area of 1.64 square kilometers. Since its ground breaking in July 1993, 6 joint ventures and foreign-funded enterprises have established their presence in the Area with the total investment value of USD 227 million. One of the biggest civil aviation maintenance bases in Asia has gradually taken shape, spearheaded by Taikoo aircraft maintenance and supported by the maintenance of aircraft engine, aviation electrics and its accessories

(2000)

With the operation of the 2nd phase expansion project of the airport, the airport construction came a step closer to perfection. As important as the airport itself, Xiamen Takoo Aircraft Maintenance Centre was expanded and became a major part of the Aviation City. 11.4008 million RMB had been invested in some 60 projects of the airport. The major projects included tower in the northeast, lighting facilities for landing, land-claiming for runways, extension of service lanes and the clearance of fences around the flying zone. By the end of the year, the 3400-metre runway and 3300-metre parallel slideway had passed appraisal of an expert teams from East China Aviation Bureau. The expansion of 6000-square-metre cargo center was completed. The other major projects included the attachment to the level-two supervision warehouses, the renovation of No. 1 Terminal into a joint inspection and clearance center and the maintenance of the new terminal building. With an investment of 50 million USD and following one-odd year of construction, the 2nd phase hangar construction (started on July the 30th, 1997) was completed on April the 21st and connected to the phase one. With an annual maintenance capacity of 2 million hours, it had become the largest civil aviation maintenance center.

The port construction had laid a foundation for Xiamen International Airport to be become a major one in China. Currently, there were 33 domestic and international airways offering service in 53 domestic routes and 8 international routes. Following over one year of operation, the route between Xiamen and Osaka maintained a growth momentum. Following resumption of flights, the route between Xiamen and Manila maintained stable. In Nov., Malaysia Airlines opened first flight to Xiamen, which had ensured the freight charter service between America to Xiamen by Boeing 747 and provided valuable experience for oceanic service.

Xiamen Airport registered the safety record of 41767 flights for the whole year, the 9th place in China and an increase of 2.8%. The number of passengers by air amounted to 3.38 million, 56.7% of the 5.9613 million in Fujian and the 8th place in China, a decrease of 3.15%. The handling capacity of cargos, luggage and parcels reached 98,200 tons, 64.14% of the total air freight volume in Fujian, the 7th place in China, and a increase of 2.08%.

Xiamen Airlines had a fleet of 20 airplanes with 2955 seats. The figure of the weight of freight multiplied by mileage was 318 million, up 8.7%. The passengers handled amounted to 3.266 million, up 8.83%. The volume of cargo, mails and luggage reached 72,000 tons, up 10.77%. For the whole year, 60,600 hours were registered for transport service, up 17.6%. The airplanes had an average flying time of 8.3 hours, up 0.1 hours over 1998. Profits for the full year amounted to 227 million RMB, an increase of 224.3%. On solving the Year 2000 Bug, the company had conducted investigations, studies and tests to some 117 programs which were vulnerable to Y2K problems. At the same time, an emergency plan was mapped out to ensure a success.