Ili Yining International Airport guide

Ili Yining International Airport serves Yining (Ghulja), the seat of Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in northwest Xinjiang. It sits about 3.5 kilometres from the city centre, at an elevation of 666 metres. The Civil Aviation Administration of China approved the current name on 6 June 2024. The airport is run by Xinjiang Airport Group.

The airfield dates to 1936. A third terminal opened in 1984, when the runway was extended, and the present terminal entered service in July 2011. It covers 16,700 square metres and has three boarding bridges. The single asphalt runway, 06/24, measures 2,400 by 45 metres.

The State Council approved opening the airport to foreign traffic in August 2016, and it passed national inspection as an international port in December 2023. In 2025 it handled 3,454,959 passengers, 33,129 aircraft movements and 9,604.8 tonnes of cargo. Chengdu Airlines has the largest network, with China Express, China Southern, China Eastern, Air China and Spring Airlines also flying here. Routes run to Urumqi, Beijing, Chengdu and Xi'an, and to Almaty and Astana in Kazakhstan.