Chengdu airport logs 90,000 cross-border trips as visa reciprocity fuels ‘double-flow’ tourism

Sichuan Border Inspection reported late on 5 May that Chengdu Tianfu and Shuangliu airports handled more than 90,000 international passenger movements and 600 flights over the May-Day stretch, up 5.5 percent and 1.5 percent respectively. Foreign nationals accounted for 21,000 of those trips, a 9.2 percent rise driven by reciprocal visa-waiver deals China signed with Russia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Outbound Chinese travellers mirrored the pattern: those four markets were the top choices for Sichuan residents taking advantage of ‘please-four-days-off-for-eleven’ holiday hacks. Chengdu now boasts 104 scheduled international routes, making it the inland city with the country’s largest intercontinental network. That connectivity is encouraging multinationals to base West China regional teams in Chengdu, as staff can fly long-haul without connecting in Beijing or Shanghai. Border formalities have also modernised. The local e-channel enrolment office extended hours until midnight during the holiday and trialled a WeChat mini-program for arrival-card pre-clearance, reducing average clearance time to under six minutes, according to border police. Global mobility managers should watch aircraft gauge allocations: airlines kept wide-body utilisation tight during the holiday, prompting some last-minute downgrades and luggage off-loads. Early booking and real-time monitoring via carrier apps remain best practice.