Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport Surpasses Shanghai Hongqiao

The Battle for Market Share

“Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport’s passenger traffic surprisingly surpassed Shanghai Hongqiao!”

Regular traveler in the Yangtze River Delta, Xiao C, who makes over 20 flights a year, saw the Civil Aviation Administration’s published statistics, immediately took a screenshot, and shared it with a comment.

As a frequent flyer, his surprise is understandable.

In the Yangtze River Delta travel circle, Hongqiao Airport’s intermodal rail-air connections and high-frequency domestic routes have long been known for efficiency. Now, however, Xiaoshan Airport has achieved a tangible traffic lead.

According to the Civil Aviation Administration’s official website, by 2025, Xiaoshan Airport will handle approximately 50.46 million passengers, surpassing Hongqiao Airport’s roughly 50.15 million for the second consecutive year. The lead has widened from 110,000 in 2024 to 310,000.

Image source: Civil Aviation Administration of China, “2025 National Civil Transport Airport Throughput Rankings”

Behind this comeback is Xiaoshan Airport’s three-pronged approach: “scale expansion + network upgrade + efficiency improvement,” precisely targeting regional aviation demand growth.

The leap in hardware scale is the core support.

Data from Zhejiang Provincial Department of Transportation shows that after the first phase of Hangzhou Airport’s third construction project was put into operation, the terminal expanded to 990,000 square meters, with an additional 720 square kilometers of airspace, supporting an annual passenger throughput exceeding 50 million.

Capacity has increased, with coordinated development of cargo and passenger services.

By 2025, cargo and mail throughput will reach 790,000 tons, with cross-border e-commerce cargo accounting for over 60% of international cargo, making it an important hub for cross-border logistics in the Yangtze River Delta.

Image source: Civil Aviation Administration of China, “2025 National Civil Transport Airport Throughput Rankings”

The global layout of route networks continues to expand its reach.

By the end of 2025, Xiaoshan Airport’s routes will cover all five continents, connecting to 35 countries and regions, with 223 operational destinations, and successfully hosting 75 airlines including Emirates.

More notably, its average passenger load factor (89.1%) has ranked first among the top ten domestic airports for 24 consecutive months, reflecting both strong passenger attraction and operational efficiency, with the role of an international air gateway increasingly prominent.

However, despite the scale surpassing Hongqiao, the latter’s domestic routes remain industry-leading, considered the “ceiling” of domestic routes.

According to Civil Aviation Administration data for the 2026 Spring Festival holiday, Hongqiao dominates six of the most popular one-way routes, including Shanghai Hongqiao—Beijing Capital, Shanghai Hongqiao—Shenzhen Bao’an, Shanghai Hongqiao—Guangzhou Baiyun, Shenzhen Bao’an—Shanghai Hongqiao, Guangzhou Baiyun—Shanghai Hongqiao, and Beijing Capital—Shanghai Hongqiao, forming a pattern of “north-south connectivity and high bidirectional traffic.”

This is due to Hongqiao’s dense domestic route network.

Shanghai Airport Group reports that, according to the winter-spring 2025 schedule, Hongqiao Airport operates an average of 730 domestic flights per day, with increased flights to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, and other 30 destinations from Pudong Airport.

Furthermore, Hongqiao’s domestic routes are highly popular and reliable, with its unique “air-rail intermodal” advantage further amplifying their value.

According to Liberation Daily, as of December 26 last year, Shanghai’s airport line network transported a total of 15.62 million passengers, averaging 42,800 daily. The top three stations by daily passenger entries are Hongqiao Terminal 2, Pudong Terminals 1 and 2, and Jinghong Road Station.

As a connector between Hongqiao and Pudong hubs, the Shanghai Airport Link reduces travel time between the two airports to within 40 minutes.

Through integration with Hongqiao hub, travelers from cities like Suzhou and Wuxi can take high-speed trains to Hongqiao Railway Station and then transfer via the airport link to quickly reach Pudong Airport, creating a “high-speed rail + urban railway” coordinated travel mode, extending the service area of Hongqiao’s domestic routes.

In terms of hardware, Shanghai Hongqiao Airport’s Terminal 1, primarily serving Spring Airlines, is also the main base for flights to Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan regions, handling international and regional flights for airlines like All Nippon Airways and Korean Air, as well as some domestic flights.

According to renovation plans announced by Shanghai Airport Group, the terminal’s designed annual passenger capacity is 10 million, but it has long been operating at full capacity.

As early as 2014, when the T1 terminal at Hongqiao was renovated, the designed capacity was 10 million passengers annually, with the overall plan for Hongqiao Airport’s annual throughput set at 40 million, which has also been operating at saturation for years.

From an airport positioning perspective, Pudong and Hongqiao airports have clear roles: Pudong is the core hub for intercontinental flights, while Hongqiao mainly retains short-haul international routes to Japan, Korea, and nearby regions.

Additionally, Hongqiao’s non-24-hour operation and the policy of night flight bans from midnight to 6 a.m. further restrict the growth of passenger traffic, especially red-eye flights.

In short, the competition between Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport and Hongqiao Airport fundamentally reflects a clash of development models.

Xiaoshan Airport pursues “scale expansion + regional radiation,” leveraging hardware upgrades and network expansion to meet the massive travel demand in southern Yangtze River Delta, especially in tourism and visiting relatives markets.

Hongqiao Airport, on the other hand, adheres to “precision deep cultivation + efficiency priority,” focusing on high-end business travelers and key domestic trunk routes. With its “high frequency, high punctuality, and seamless connections,” it has become the preferred choice for travel between major Yangtze River Delta cities.

In the future, with new airports like Nantong opening, competition among Yangtze River Delta airports will intensify further.