Early development The former international airport of
Zhengzhou, known as
Zhengzhou Dongjiao Airport, was built in 1956. However, the airport, which had a 2,400 meter long and 45 meter wide runway, capable of handling airliners as large as a
Boeing 767, was too close to the city center, worsening the air and noise pollution, especially from jet-powered planes like the
Trident and
Boeing 737. Development of many buildings in the area worsened the dire situation, thus risking aircraft-related accidents. Hence, to meet the demand of city development, a plan to build a new airport in Xuedian Township,
Xinzheng to replace the old Dongjiao Airport was approved in 1992. The new airport was originally named
Zhengzhou Xuedian Airport () after the township of its location and was later changed to the current name. Construction began in 1993 and the new airport was opened on 28 August 1997 with a terminal of 45,900 square meters and a runway (Runway 12R/30L) of 3,400 m. The designed capacity of the terminal was 3.8 million passengers a year. All the flights of Dongjiao Airport were transferred to the new airport. Dongjiao Airport was later demolished to build the
Zhengdong New Area CBD on its site. In 2000, the airport was approved by the
state council to become the 21st international airport in China. From 2005 to 2007, the original terminal underwent a major expansion and renovation. The new terminal (current Terminal 1) has an area of 128,000 square meters and was opened on 29 December 2007. CGO original terminal.jpg|The original terminal in 2006 (now renovated into Terminal 1) CGOairport.JPG|Terminal 1 under renovation in 2007
Phase II expansion In 2013, the
state council approved the expansion project of the airport, including a new terminal (Terminal 2), the second runway (Runway 12L/30R) and a ground traffic center (GTC), in alignment with its first airport-based economy zone (
Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone). The construction started in 2012, and was finished in 2015. Terminal 2 was opened on 19 December 2015 together with the GTC, and the second runway was opened on 7 January 2016, making the airport the first with two terminals and two runways in
central China.
Recent development After
Foxconn Zhengzhou (the main production base for
iPhone, located just to the north of the airport) was put into operation in 2010, the cargo transport of the airport has been booming. Between 2010 and 2017, the cargo volume handled by the airport increased from 85,798.1 to 502,714.8 metric tonnes, growing by 34 percent yearly on average, making it the seventh busiest airport in China by cargo traffic. Long-haul and intercontinental passenger services from the airport also began to emerge in recent years. In late 2015
Emirates announced it would begin service from
Dubai to Zhengzhou via
Yinchuan from May 2016, as part of the airline's expansion plans in China. This is Zhengzhou's first connection to the Middle East. The service started from 3 May 2016 and stopped from November 2018. On 11 November 2016,
Sichuan Airlines launched non-stop flights to
Vancouver. It is the first regular non-stop intercontinental passenger service for the airport. Non-stop flight service to
Melbourne were initiated by
Jetstar on 6 December 2017. This was the first air route to Australia from the airport. The
airport rail link services between Zhengzhou city center and the airport became available after the completion of the ground traffic center in 2015, including the
Zhengzhou–Xinzheng Airport intercity railway, which started operations from 31 December 2015 and served as an express link, and
Zhengzhou Metro Chengjiao line, which started operations from 12 January 2017. In 2017, the airport surpassed
Wuhan Tianhe International Airport and
Changsha Huanghua International Airport in terms of passenger traffic, making it the busiest airport in
central China in both passenger and cargo traffic. ==Infrastructure==