Dalian Airport Guide: Northeast China’s Crowded Airfield
Dalian Airport at Zhoushuizi is one of the busiest in northeast China, with one runway, strong Japan and Korea links and an offshore replacement on the way.
By The Aviation Hub
7 min read
Updated October 20, 2026 
Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport lies about 6 miles (10 km) north west of the centre of Dalian, the port city at the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula in Liaoning province. It is one of the busiest airports in northeast China and sits just inside the national top 30. Dalian Airport handled close to 20 million passengers in 2025 on a single runway hemmed in by the city that has grown around it. Its network is unusual for a Chinese airport of its size in the weight it gives to Japan and South Korea, a legacy of Dalian’s history and its trade across the Yellow Sea.
Dalian Airport at a Glance
The codes are DLC and ZYTL. The field sits at 33 m (107 ft) above sea level in Ganjingzi district, with housing and roads on every side. It has one runway, 10/28, rated class 4E, and a terminal complex of around 135,000 square metres built up in stages, the latest large hall completed in September 2011.
Dalian International Airport Group, a state owned company, operates Dalian Airport. Dalian Airlines, a subsidiary of Air China, has its hub here, and China Southern and Hainan Airlines treat the city as a focus. Traffic in 2025 reached about 19.8 million passengers, up 2.6 per cent, which placed the airport 27th in China. Flight information and ground transport details are on the airport’s official website.
How Dalian’s Airport Came to Be
The site was a marsh that locals called Choushuizi, meaning smelly waters, and after draining it took the more respectable name Zhoushuizi from a nearby village. Japan, which occupied the Liaodong Peninsula from 1905, turned a racecourse there into an airfield from 1924, and the airport opened in 1927 as part of the Japanese air network linking Dalian with Korea and the home islands.
Soviet forces held the airfield for a decade after Japan’s surrender in 1945 and handed it to the People’s Liberation Army Air Force in 1955. Civil flying resumed in 1973 on a tiny scale, with 37 staff and fewer than 2,000 passengers in the first year. Expansions in 1984, 1992, 1999 and 2005 followed the opening of Dalian as one of China’s first coastal economic zones.
The third phase expansion of 2011 and 2012 delivered a 71,000 square metre terminal hall and brought the complex to its present size. By then Dalian Airport was already short of room, and in 2011 the offshore replacement at Jinzhouwan entered the national five year plan. The darkest day in the airport’s history came on 7 May 2002, when China Northern Airlines Flight 6136 from Beijing crashed into Bohai Bay on approach after a passenger set a fire aboard, killing all 112 people on board.
Runways at Dalian Airport
The single runway, 10/28, is 3,300 m (10,827 ft) long and 45 m wide, surfaced in asphalt. It runs east to west across the northern suburbs, with the 28 threshold at the city end. The length and 4E rating allow Boeing 777s, 787s and Airbus A330s and A350s to operate without restriction, and freighters up to the Boeing 747 have used it.
Winds on the peninsula shift with the seasons. Northerly and westerly winds in winter tend to favour 28, with approaches from the city side over dense housing, while southerly winds in summer often bring arrivals in from the west onto 10. Sea fog from spring to early summer is the main weather hazard and can close the field for hours, and winter brings snow and strong winds.
The constraint is capacity. A single runway with no room for a parallel and housing on three sides cannot grow, and the airport is effectively full at busy times. That is why China is building a new airport in the sea.
Terminals and Airlines
The terminal complex runs along the south side of the runway as a series of connected halls. The 2011 building handles most departures with jet bridge gates for domestic flights, and the international section has its own check in and immigration area at one end. Several lounges serve premium passengers.
China Southern is one of the largest operators, flying Airbus A320 family and Boeing 737 aircraft across China and to Japan and Korea, with A330s on the busiest trunk routes. Dalian Airlines operates Boeing 737s in Air China colours. Hainan Airlines, Air China, China Eastern, Xiamen Airlines, Shandong Airlines, Spring Airlines and Okay Airways round out the domestic picture.
Foreign carriers are more numerous than at most Chinese airports of this size. Japan Airlines flies daily from Tokyo, All Nippon Airways serves Tokyo Narita, and Korean Air and Asiana each fly daily from Seoul Incheon. Spring Airlines Japan also flies to Dalian Airport from Narita, and Aeroflot appears seasonally from Vladivostok.
Routes and Destinations
Domestic trunk routes to Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hangzhou and Xi’an carry the bulk of the traffic. Dalian is a popular summer resort for northern Chinese, so leisure flights from the inland cities swell in July and August. The ferry and the long rail detour around the Bohai Sea make the short hops to Shandong, especially Yantai and Qingdao, busier than the distance would suggest.
Internationally the airport serves Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Sapporo, Seoul, Jeju, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Vladivostok. Japan is the standout market, built on Dalian’s large Japanese business community and the software outsourcing industry that serves Japanese clients. The longest scheduled route is China Eastern’s link to Kuala Lumpur at about 2,800 miles (4,500 km). Cargo is moderate, with seafood exports and electronics among the main flows.
Getting to and from Dalian Airport
Dalian Metro Line 2 stops at the airport, with trains to the city centre and Dalian railway station in around 20 to 25 minutes for a fare of a few yuan, the cheapest sensible option. The station sits a short walk from the terminal. Airport buses run to the central Zhongshan district and to Development Zone, and dozens of city bus routes pass the terminal because the airport sits inside the urban area.
By road the city centre is 20 to 30 minutes away in normal traffic. A taxi to the centre costs around ¥30 to ¥40 (roughly £3 to £4), and the taxi rank is on the ground level of the terminal. Parking is tight, with surface and multi storey car parks beside the halls that fill in summer.
Spotting and Photography
Dalian Airport is unusually accessible for a Chinese airport because the city surrounds it. Arrivals on 28 pass low over residential streets and parks in Ganjingzi, and the streets east of the field give views across the approach. For 10 arrivals in summer the western end of the field is the place to be.
The terminal windows on the departures level look over the apron. The variety is good by Chinese standards, with JAL and ANA Boeing 737s and 787s, Korean Air and Asiana A321neos and A330s, China Southern A330s and the odd seasonal Aeroflot jet from Vladivostok.
Chinese police treat cameras near airports with suspicion, so stay on public pavements, keep away from the fence and do not photograph the military side of the field. Carry identification and be ready to move on if asked.
What Comes Next
The future of aviation in Dalian lies offshore. Dalian Jinzhouwan International Airport is being built on an artificial island of around 20 square kilometres reclaimed from Jinzhou Bay, north of the city, with plans for four runways and capacity for 70 million passengers in the long term. Land reclamation began around 2011 and stalled for years, and the first phase with two runways and room for 31 million passengers is now expected around 2030.
When Jinzhouwan opens, Zhoushuizi is expected to close and the land will be redeveloped. Until then the existing airport will see only modest investment, concentrated on the terminal interior and on the metro and road links.
Dalian Airport is living on borrowed time, busy and hemmed in, with a huge new successor rising from the sea. Compare it with the rest of the region on the Airports of the World map.
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