Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport guide

Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport sits in the Ganjingzi district of Dalian, on the Liaodong Peninsula in Liaoning province. Its history dates to 1927, when Japanese authorities converted a former horse-racing course into an airfield with routes to Korea and Japan. The site passed through Soviet and then Chinese military control before reopening for civil aviation in 1973, with a single 2,040-metre runway and fewer than 2,000 passengers a year.

Growth accelerated from the 1980s onward, and the airport was expanded five times as Dalian's economy and population grew. It is now the busiest airport in Northeast China and the 27th busiest nationwide, but the city has since grown up around it, leaving no room to expand further. The airport reached its design capacity in 2016, prompting construction of a replacement, Dalian Jinzhouwan International Airport, on an artificial island offshore.

Zhoushuizi serves as the hub for Dalian Airlines and a focus city for China Southern Airlines and Hainan Airlines, which together carry most of its domestic traffic. South Korea is its largest international market, with daily service to Seoul alongside routes to Tokyo. Cargo throughput reached roughly 172,000 tonnes in 2025, moving alongside the airport's passenger traffic.