(Yicai) March 22 -- Chengdu Tianfu International Airport in the capital city of China’s southwestern Sichuan province ranked fifth by passenger throughput in the country last year, achieving such a milestone only two years after opening.

Some 44.8 million passengers traveled through Tianfu Airport last year, according to the latest data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Tianfu Airport opened in June 2021. Before that, Chengdu only had one airport, Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport. Shuangliu Airport was China’s fourth largest airport, with a passenger throughput of 55.9 million in 2019, according to CAAC data. Last year, Chengdu’s two airports had a combined throughput of nearly 75 million passengers, ranking third among Chinese cities.

Before Tianfu Airport opened, the number of flights at Shuangliu Airport had already reached its ceiling, which resulted in higher travel fares than airports in neighboring cities, thus diverting some passengers from Chengdu, Gu Xingshu, deputy dean of the School of Public Administration at Southwest Minzu University, told Yicai.

Therefore, the release of air travel demand that was pent-up because of restrictions on the number of flights in Chengdu before Tianfu Airport was put into operation is a key reason behind the rapid rise in the airport’s passenger throughput, Gu said.

Tianfu Airport’s passenger throughput should rise at an annual growth rate of 10 percent in the next few years to exceed 50 million this year and reach its designed throughput capacity of 60 million in 2026, Gu predicted.

It usually takes about three years to plan and receive regulatory approval for an airport expansion project and several more years for the construction, so Tianfu Airport should kick off preliminary work for its second phase now to ensure that the actual construction work starts in 2026 and that the annual passenger throughput remains around 60 million to 65 million during the construction period, Gu added.

Editor: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione