Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport

Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN) is the fortified southern anchor of China Southern Airlines' global network and, by several measures, the busiest single airport in mainland China during the recovery years of 2020 to 2022. Situated 28 km (17 mi) north of central Guangzhou straddling the Huadu and Baiyun districts, the airport occupies a 15-square-kilometre site at just 50 ft (15 m) elevation on the Pearl River Delta plain. It served 63.1M passengers in 2024, restoring its position in the global top fifteen and reclaiming its Civil Aviation Administration of China classification as one of the country's four super-hubs alongside PEK, PKX, and PVG. The three-runway system (02L/20R, 02R/20L, 01/19) was completed in 2015 with the opening of the easternmost strip, lifting declared capacity to 80 movements per hour. Terminal 2, inaugurated in 2018, added 658,000 square metres of floor space and pushed the airport's design throughput to 100M passengers annually. China Southern — SkyTeam's only mainland member — operates its only long-haul widebody base here, feeding its Kangaroo Route franchise of Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland and Christchurch services via what it markets as the 'Canton Route'. CAN's geographic position gives it near-equidistant reach to Bangkok, Singapore, Seoul, and Tokyo within four hours of block time, making it the principal Chinese transfer node for Southeast Asian and Oceanian itineraries. A planned fourth and fifth runway, plus Terminal 3, are under construction and scheduled for phased opening through 2030, targeting 140M annual passengers — a scale that would place CAN behind only ATL and DXB globally.