Urumqi Airport: fast growing Central Asian hub, but no BRI benefit yet

Urumqi has emerged as one of China's fastest growing airports. Passenger traffic has nearly quadrupled over the past decade, from only 5.8 million in 2018 to 21.5 million in 2017. Traffic increased by 6% in 2017 and was up another 9% in the first seven months of 2018.

However, Urumqi is still relatively underserved from an international perspective, despite its strategic location on the Silk Road and only 300km from Kazakhstan. Urumqi is closer to Central Asia than eastern China and is within narrowbody range of several markets benefitting from China's 'Belt and Road Initiative' (BRI). Urumqi also has a large Central Asian ethnic population and has become a hub for international companies seeking to increase their presence in Central Asia or the Silk Road Economic Belt.

China Southern has operated a hub at Urumqi for several years and currently links Urumqi with 15 international destinations - all of which are along the Silk Road. However, the China Southern hub consists predominantly of domestic services and 96% of Urumqi's total seat capacity is in the domestic market. International traffic has declined over the past three years, whereas domestic traffic has grown rapidly.