Departure
89%
vs 95% ▼ 7
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Guilin Liangjiang International Airport (ZGKL/KWL) is the principal air gateway to Guilin in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, sited in Liangjiang Town some 28 kilometres southwest of the city centre. It operates a single long, ILS-equipped runway and handles a substantial mix of domestic and international airline traffic, making it a busy but straightforward destination for a simulated approach into southern China.
Guilin Liangjiang International Airport serves the city of Guilin, a well-known tourist centre in Guangxi, and acts as a hub for Air Guilin alongside services from many of China's major carriers. It replaced the older Guilin Qifengling Airport as the city's civil aerodrome and today handles millions of passengers a year across a network of domestic and regional international routes. For a sim pilot, its single very long runway, full ILS coverage and large modern terminal complex make it a good representative example of a mid-sized Chinese international airport.
The airport lies in Liangjiang Town, Lingui District, on the southwestern outskirts of Guilin, roughly 28 kilometres from the city centre. The wider area sits within Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in South Central China; no further airspace classification detail is given in the available sources.
Guilin Liangjiang has one physical runway, 01/19, a hard-surfaced (concrete) strip 10,479 feet long. It is lit and equipped with an ILS, supporting instrument approaches in either direction.
Published frequencies for the airport are ATIS on 126.45 MHz, Ground on 121.65 MHz, and Tower on 118 MHz. The field is ILS-equipped on runway 01/19, supporting instrument approaches to the long runway.
Planning for a new civil airport to serve Guilin began in September 1991, when the State Council of China and the Central Military Commission approved a 1.85 billion yuan project to replace the existing Guilin Qifengling Airport. Construction started in July 1993 and the new field, Liangjiang Airport, opened on 1 October 1996 with a 3,200-metre runway, a large parking apron and a sizeable terminal building. The airport later underwent significant expansion, including investment in environmental and aesthetic improvements, and from 30 September 2018 all flights were transferred to a newly built Terminal 2, after which the original terminal was closed for renovation.
Today Guilin Liangjiang International Airport is a busy large international airport and the hub for Air Guilin, also served by carriers including Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, Shandong Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, XiamenAir and several international operators such as AirAsia, Jeju Air and Jin Air, connecting Guilin to numerous domestic cities and a handful of international destinations. Terminal 2, opened in September 2018, was built with substantial passenger and cargo handling capacity and a large apron and taxiway system to support the airport's growing traffic.