Coordinates: 24°59′32.51″N 102°44′36.73″E / 24.9923639°N 102.7435361°E / 24.9923639; 102.7435361

Kunming Wujiaba International Airport 昆明巫家坝国际机场 Kūnmíng Wūjiābà Guójì Jīchǎng
A Shandong Airlines Boeing 737 at Kunming Wujiaba International Airport
IATA: KMG – ICAO: ZPPP
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Yunnan Airport Group
Serves		Kunming
Location		Kunming, Yunnan, China
Elevation AMSL		6217 ft / 1895 m
Coordinates		24°59′32.51″N 102°44′36.73″E / 24.9923639°N 102.7435361°E / 24.9923639; 102.7435361
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
03/21	11,155	3,400	Concrete

Kunming Wujiaba International Airport (simplified Chinese: 昆明巫家坝国际机场; traditional Chinese: 昆明巫家壩國際機場) (IATA: KMG, ICAO: ZPPP) is an airport located in Kunming, Yunnan, People's Republic of China. The airport is located 4 km south-east of metropolitan Kunming. Originally built in 1923, the airport has been renovated numerous times into a modern facility.

Today, Kunming airport has become a gateway to China for many South-east Asian countries. In 2009, the airport handled 18,944,716 passengers, making it the 7th busiest airport in mainland China. It is also the 7th busiest and 8th busiest airport in terms of cargo traffic and aircraft movements, respectively.

Due to the fast expansion of the metropolitan area and limited land availability, the growth of Kunming Wujiaba International Airport is likely to face major constraints in the near future. The local government and airport authority have decided to move all operations to a new airport site, which is being planned, within five years.[1]

New Kunming airport

As there is little room at the current airport for expansion, a new airport terminal, tentatively to be named Kunming Zheng He International Airport is currently being built approximately 21 km east of the city. The entire series of construction is divided into 3 phases, with the entire project calling for four runways and 108 jetways and is due to be fully completed by 2020 with the initial terminal completion sometime in 2010-2011. It is also to be the fourth largest in the country (after Beijing, Shanghai-Pudong and Guangzhou).

Airlines and destinations

The following destinations are served from Kunming (as of February 2010):

Flights to Hong Kong and Taiwan are treated as international flights.

History

The airport is among the oldest airports in China, with a history that can be traced back over 100 years to the early 1900s, when Wujiaba Airport was first built under the supervision of local warlord, General Tang Jiyao.

The "Flying Tigers", headquartered at Wujiaba Airport.

During World War II, the airport was expanded to accommodate the operations of the legendary "Flying Tigers", the 1st American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Chinese Air Force, led by United States Air Force Lieutenant - and later General - Claire Lee Chennault in 1941 and 1942. After the United States formally entered the war in 1942, Wujiaba Airport was the headquarters of numerous United States Army Air Force units, including the headquarters of the Fourteenth and Tenth Air Forces.

The USAAF Air Transport Command (ATC) established a major air transport facility at the airport, which connected flights west to Chabua Airfield, India, with other routes within China Jiangbei Airport (Chunking); Chenstu Air Base, and Banmaw Airport (Bhamo, Burma). After the war ended in 1945, a 1,390 mile (2,224 kilometer) route east to Clark Air Base in the Philippines was established. The route to Clark AB established a complete worldwide transport route for ATC

The content above was published at Airports-Worldwide.com in 2010.
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