Fuzhou Airport Guide: Fujian’s Coastal Gateway Expands
Fuzhou Airport, formally Fuzhou Changle International, has a new runway and a second terminal. Routes, access and the XiamenAir hub explained.
By The Aviation Hub
6 min read
Updated October 20, 2026 
Fuzhou Airport stands on the coast in Changle, about 30 miles (50 km) east of central Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province on China’s southeastern seaboard. The Taiwan Strait lies just to the east. Formally Fuzhou Changle International Airport, it handled just over 16 million passengers in 2025 and recently completed the biggest expansion in its history, with a second runway opened in June 2026 and a second terminal in September. XiamenAir and Fuzhou Airlines both treat it as a hub, and it is the closest mainland airport to Taiwan’s capital.
Fuzhou Airport at a Glance
The codes are FOC and ZSFZ. The field lies 14 m (46 ft) above sea level at the mouth of the Min River, with the Taiwan Strait to the east. There are now two parallel runways and two passenger terminals. Around 16.1 million passengers used Fuzhou Airport in 2025, along with roughly 112,000 aircraft movements and 122,000 tonnes of cargo.
XiamenAir is the dominant carrier, with Fuzhou Airlines, a Hainan Airlines subsidiary, as the second home operator. China Eastern, Air China, China Southern, Spring Airlines and Sichuan Airlines all fly here in volume. Xiamen International Airport Group has managed the airport since 2003 under the Fujian provincial government. Live arrivals and departures are on the airport’s official website.
How Fuzhou Got a Proper Airport
Until 1997 the city made do with Yixu Airport, a shared military and civil field that opened to airline traffic in 1974. Yixu had a 2,200 m runway and no taxiways, so aircraft taxied back along the runway to reach the apron, and tickets were notoriously hard to get. Fujian was booming through the 1980s and the State Council approved a new airport at Changle in 1992.
Changle opened on 23 June 1997, and Yixu returned to the military. The debt taken on to build the new field nearly sank it. Debts mounted to more than 3 billion yuan within four years. Control passed to Xiamen International Airport Group in 2003, and the airport returned to profit in 2005.
The original terminal, a building of around 137,000 square metres, was extended eastwards in 2018. The second phase expansion, approved in September 2019 and started in May 2021, delivered the second runway on 11 June 2026, a new control tower, 60 extra stands and Terminal 2, which began operations on 16 September 2026.
Runways at Fuzhou Airport
Fuzhou Airport now has two parallel concrete runways, each 3,600 m (11,811 ft) long, with the original 45 m wide and the new one 60 m wide. The original western strip is designated 03L/21R and the new eastern one 03R/21L, the suffixes marking left and right as seen on approach from the south. Both run roughly north northeast to south southwest along the coastline. The second runway lifted the airport to the 4F category, the first in Fujian and the 17th in China, which clears it for the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8.
Two runways allow segregated operations, with one for arrivals and one for departures during peaks. Northerly winds blow for eleven months of the year, so most approaches come from the north over the Min estuary, and southerly winds in July bring arrivals in along the Changle coast. The coastal location brings sea fog in spring, when visibility is at its worst, and summer thunderstorms are the other great disruptor. In 2016 storms affected more than 700 flights, close to 40 per cent of all weather disruption that year. Typhoons from the Pacific close the field for a day or two most summers.
Terminals and Airlines
The original terminal, now T1, is a long low building with piers either side of a central hall and handled all traffic for nearly three decades. XiamenAir’s extensive network, Fuzhou Airlines and the other domestic carriers filled it well past its design capacity before T2 arrived. The international and regional zone handled flights to Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei and the Southeast Asian cities, with a cross strait presence from the Taiwanese carriers.
T2 opened in September 2026 with around 255,000 square metres of floor space, nearly double the older building, and takes over much of the domestic and international traffic. Airline allocations between the two buildings can change, so passengers should check their terminal before travelling to Fuzhou Airport. Both terminals link through a ground transport centre that serves the new railway station beneath the airport.
Routes and Destinations
The domestic trunk routes carry the volume. Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing, Kunming and Xi’an all see many departures a day on Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 family aircraft, and the dense Fujian triangle of Fuzhou, Xiamen and Quanzhou means short hops are rare because the high speed railway takes that traffic. Hong Kong is a key regional route.
XiamenAir gives the airport a long haul profile unusual for a city of this size. Its Boeing 787-9 fleet links Fuzhou with New York JFK and Amsterdam, and the New York route at about 7,800 miles (12,500 km) is the longest from the field. Tokyo Narita, Seoul, Taipei, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Jakarta make up the regional international map. The large Fujianese diaspora in New York and Southeast Asia underpins much of this flying. Cargo of around 122,000 tonnes a year is mostly belly freight and Fujian electronics.
Getting to and from Fuzhou Airport
The Binhai Express railway opened on 29 September 2025 and runs direct from Fuzhou railway station to a station under the airport, which makes it the quickest sensible option. Fuzhou Metro Line 6 is planned to pass close to the airport and will add a slower local link. Before the railway, everyone drove or took the coach.
Airport shuttle buses still run to the city centre, the railway stations and towns across the province including Putian and Ningde. The Airport Expressway and the Shenhai and Fuyin expressways connect the terminals to the city in 45 to 60 minutes by road. A taxi to downtown costs roughly 120 to 150 yuan (£13 to £16). The shuttle buses run from 04:30 to 22:30.
Spotting and Photography
The coastal setting makes Fuzhou Airport more photogenic than most Chinese airports. Approaches from the north, the usual direction, can be watched from the roads along the Min estuary. The beaches and dunes south of the field see arrivals on 03L and 03R during the southerly winds of July. The terminal windows offer the usual apron view, and the arrival of XiamenAir 787s from Europe and New York is the highlight.
The traffic is mostly XiamenAir 737s and 787s and the standard Chinese narrow body mix, with Mandarin Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Korean Air and Scoot adding variety. Stay on public roads and beaches, keep well away from the perimeter fence and the military areas nearby, and put the camera down if approached. China is relaxed about casual photography but not about anything that looks organised near an airport.
Expansion Plans
The second phase expansion is designed for 36 million passengers and 450,000 tonnes of cargo a year by 2030, which would more than double the 2025 figures. Capacity is no longer the constraint. Demand now depends on XiamenAir’s ambitions, on cross strait relations with Taiwan and on how much long haul traffic Fuzhou can win from Xiamen and Guangzhou.
Fuzhou Airport is heading for a decade of growth into the space it has just built. Compare it with the rest of southern China on the Airports of the World map.
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