Departure
98%
vs 95% ▲ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Yinchuan Hedong International Airport (ZLIC/INC) is the principal gateway for Ningxia's capital, sited in Linhe town, Lingwu City, some 25 kilometres southeast of downtown Yinchuan on the eastern bank of the Yellow River. A single long concrete runway equipped with ILS handles a busy mix of domestic and a growing number of international services, and the field also serves as a designated alternate for Lanzhou Zhongchuan and Xi'an Xianyang.
Yinchuan Hedong International Airport takes its name, meaning "East of the River", from its position on the eastern side of the Yellow River relative to Yinchuan city. It is a government-operated civil airport and the main air link for Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, handling both domestic trunk routes and a number of international services. For a visiting VFR or IFR pilot, its interest lies in its status as a substantial single-runway international field with full ILS coverage, set against the backdrop of the Yellow River valley.
The airport lies in Linhe town, Lingwu City, within Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, roughly 25 kilometres southeast of central Yinchuan. As a large international airport handling scheduled airline traffic, it sits within controlled airspace appropriate to its status, and pilots should expect to operate under full ATC control rather than informal circuit procedures typical of smaller fields. It functions as an important alternate for both Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport and Xi'an Xianyang International Airport, reflecting its role within the regional air traffic network of northwest China.
The airport has a single physical runway, 03/21, measuring 10,493 feet and surfaced in hard standing (concrete). Both runway ends are lit and served by ILS, giving instrument approach capability in either direction.
No communications frequencies are published for Yinchuan Hedong International Airport. ILS approaches are available for runway 03/21, but specific navaid identifiers and frequency data are not listed.
As a major international airport with full ATC service, arriving and departing traffic is handled under standard instrument procedures rather than a visual circuit pattern; no published circuit heights or joining instructions are available.
The airport's position on the eastern bank of the Yellow River, southeast of Yinchuan city, serves as the principal geographic reference for pilots approaching the field, with the river itself providing a clear natural landmark on the western side of the airport.
The airport was constructed to replace the constrained Yinchuan Xihuayuan Airport, with a first test flight on 21 August 1997 and official opening on 6 September 1997. It was later upgraded in classification, and on 23 July 2013 the Civil Aviation Administration of China approved its renaming from "Yinchuan Hedong Airport" to "Yinchuan Hedong International Airport". On 24 August 2015 the airport's flight zone classification was upgraded to 4E, making it the third airport of that classification in northwest China at the time.
Yinchuan Hedong International Airport is now classified as a 4E civil airport and ranks among China's busier airports, connecting to dozens of domestic cities either directly or via transfer through Xi'an and Beijing, along with a number of international routes. It continues to serve as an alternate airport for Lanzhou Zhongchuan and Xi'an Xianyang, underlining its operational importance within the regional network.