First opened in August 1989 as a replacement for Changsha’s Datuopu Airport, which is now a military air base, the city’s newer Huanghua International Airport serves the capital of China’s Hunan Province and is located at 16 miles from the downtown area. As of 2016, it was the country’s 13th-busiest civil airport. Terminal 2 was inaugurated in 2011, while Terminal 1 was reopened in 2018 after renovations. Terminal 2 is now the 5th largest airport terminal in mainland China, after Beijing–Capital, Shanghai–Pudong, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. A third terminal is expected to open by 2024, and a fourth soon after.
The Changsha Maglev Express (pictured above), which started operating in May 2016, connects Huanghua Airport with the Changsha South railway station. The line is 11.5 miles long and runs at a speed of nearly 75 mph, finishing the journey in just over 10 minutes. It is also China’s 2nd maglev line, after the Shanghai Maglev, as well as the first domestically built maglev line that uses indigenous technology.
- Visited: 2018
Traces of Places 