Qingdao Airport in the first half of 2026 welcomed 1.8 million international and regional passengers, increasing 15% from the year before and ranking 10th among Chinese airports. The throughput of international and regional passengers comprised 14% of the total passenger throughput, marking a continuous progress in consolidating Qingdao Airport as an international hub. In the summer period, Qingdao Airport’s international and regional passenger transport services will provide a total of 29 air routes operated by 16 airline companies from both home and abroad.

In the first half of 2026, the number of passenger flights and the passenger throughput for air routes bound to South Korea in Qingdao Airport saw a year-on-year increase of 6% and 18%, respectively. Qingdao Airport secured the second position in China in terms of both the number of passenger flights and the passenger throughput for air routes bound to Seoul and Busan. Furthermore, Qingdao Airport took faster steps to tap markets in Southeast Asia by opening or increasing direct flight routes to Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and Kuala Lumpur. The share of Southeast Asian flight routes in the international market of Qingdao Airport has soared to 21% from 12% in 2025, compared with a year-on-year surge of 112% in the passenger throughput.

As China continues to extend the free visa policy to more countries and regions, and puts in place such policies as 240-hour visa-free transit and 24-hour direct transit without inspection, Qingdao Airport moves faster to further build such transit channels as other domestic cities-Qingdao-Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia-Qingdao-Northeast Asia, and Qingdao-Xinjiang-cities in the SCO member states. In the first half of 2026, the number of international passengers transiting at Qingdao Airport saw a year-on-year increase of 18%.  (Zhou Jianliang)

A continuous stream of passengers appears in the transit channels at Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport.