Xi'an hosts media tour to airport

China West Airport Group invited journalists from various media outlets to Xi'an Xianyang International Airport on April 13 to showcase its latest achievements in hardware upgrades, smart operations, and cargo hub development.

The journalists visited the airport's hub operations center (HOC) in T5, which serves as the "central brain" overseeing the operation, scheduling, and command of all flights across the airport.

Inside the HOC, large screens span the entire background wall. The central screen displays the airport's real-time operational status, enabling command and dispatch personnel to access more comprehensive information, coordinate departures, and improve flight on-time performance.

According to Zhang Xuan, an airport representative, Xi'an Xianyang International Airport now operates two zones, four terminals, and three runways. It serves more than 170 destinations, covering 70 percent of operational airports in China. The airport runs 22 express air routes and 16 quasi-express routes, including those to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. Its route network to Xinjiang ranks first nationwide, with 17 destinations and over 50 flights per day.

The airport has also been expanding its international route network. In recent years, it has launched and resumed intercontinental routes to London, Paris, Minsk, among other cities, and opened routes to eight cities across five Central Asian countries. It handled more than 48.5 million passenger trips last year, ranking among the world's top 50 airports.

The upgrade project for the airport's international logistics park was put into operation in the first half of 2025. As the upgrading project of the largest air cargo hub in Northwest China, it has boosted the annual international cargo and mail handling capacity of Xi'an Xianyang International Airport to 300,000 metric tons.

According to Dan Ding, general manager of Air Logistics Co of China West Airport Group, the company's international business doubled year-on-year in the first quarter of this year.

In addition, leading express delivery enterprises such as SF Express, JD Logistics, and ZTO Express are establishing their own air cargo subsidiaries to integrate cargo sources and transport capacity. The company aims to attract these enterprises to set up operations in Xi'an, further consolidating Xi'an's status as a gateway hub for opening up to the west.

The one-day tour offered journalists a glimpse of a multidimensional, modern Xi'an Xianyang International Airport. Taking the operation of T5 as an opportunity, the airport is expanding its route network and enhancing its hub functions, striving to achieve even greater milestones in advancing the Belt and Road Initiative.