Hotan Airport guide

Hotan Kungang Airport serves Hotan, a city on the southern rim of the Taklamakan Desert in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. It lies about 11 kilometres south-west of the city centre, at an elevation of 1,424 metres. The airport was known as Hotan Airport until February 2023, when it took its current name from a line in the Thousand Character Classic.

A dirt airstrip existed here from 1931. Construction of the airport began in May 1956 and it opened in 1957 with an earthen runway of about 1,800 metres. The runway was extended in 1964 and the airport was expanded again in 2002-2004. A further expansion approved in 2014 included a new terminal of about 17,500 square metres. Passenger traffic passed one million in 2017.

The airport has two parallel runways. A 3,800-metre south runway opened on 8 April 2024, making it the first dual-runway airport in Xinjiang. The 3,200-metre north runway was closed for rebuilding from April 2024 and returned to regular service in October 2026.

Air China, China Southern, China Eastern, Hainan Airlines, Chengdu Airlines and Urumqi Air serve the airport. Most flights connect Hotan with Ürümqi, with other routes to Beijing, Chengdu, Xi'an, Guangzhou and Kashgar. In 2025 the airport handled about 1.94 million passengers and 16,897 aircraft movements.