History
In June 1939,construction of Wusu Airport began,named after the nearby Wusu Village. On November 1939,the airport was opened to traffic,operated as a joint military-civilian airport. In 1945,operations were suspended,and the airport was repaired and reopened in November 1946. In 1948 during the Liberation of Taiyuan,the airport was captured by the People's Liberation Army. Following capture in October 1948,operations were suspended again,and the airport was converted for military use. Since December 1951,the city of Taiyuan was served by the nearby Taiyuan Qinxian Airport,which was equipped with a single concrete runway. On December 9,1959,Wusu Airport was approved for allocation to civil aviation,however,implementation was shelved due to economic reasons. By the late 1960s,Qinxian Airport was unable to accommodate the region's growing needs,and ownership of Wusu Airport was transferred to the Civil Aviation Administration of China in November 1969. On April 1,1970,construction work aimed at upgrading pre-existing facilties began,which included the construction of a new terminal. On July 1,1971,Taiyuan Wusu Airport was officially opened,and operations were relocated from Qinxian Airport. In 1984,the terminal building was expanded,and the airport was approved to be opened for foreign traffic on 30 March,1993. [2]
International operations
By the 1990s,Taiyuan Wusu Airport was significantly upgraded for international use. On February 21,1995,Terminal 1 (T1) entered trial operations. On January 21,1996,the newer runway 13/31 entered trial operations. On December 25,1996,T1 and runway 13/31 was opened,and the airfield classification was upgraded from 4C to 4D. Subsequently,the old runway and terminal building was decommissioned. On January 12,2004,it was designated as an international airport,and was approved to expand foreign access. Since March 2006,the airport has undergone an expansion phase with a new terminal at a cost of CNY 1.57 billion,and is capable of serving 6 million passengers a year. Construction was completed in late 2007. Since this expansion,it has been able to serve as a diversionary airport for Beijing Capital International Airport,and notably performed that function during the 2008 Summer Olympics. [3] On November 13,2007,the airport was renamed to Taiyuan Wusu International Airport. On September 1,2008,Terminal 2 (T2) opened,and T1 closed 4 days later for renovation. In January 2012,the airfield classification was upgraded from 4D to 4E,and T1 was reopened on January 1,2014. [2]
The airport is a focus city for both China Eastern Airlines and Hainan Airlines. As of 2020,Taiyuan Wusu International Airport was the 30th busiest airport in the People's Republic of China,with 9,013,205 passengers.
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