Zhuhai Lianzhou General Aviation Airport will be expanded into the city's second commercial aviation airport to support the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin. Currently, Zhuhai (Jinwan) Airport, which opened in 1995, provides the only local infrastructure for commercial flights. 

Once operational, short-haul routes will connect Zhuhai with cities in the east, west, and north of Guangdong and others in the Greater Bay Area (GBA). Planned next are scheduled flights to regions of Beijing, Tianjin, Chengdu-Chongqing and Hebei as well as the Yangtze River Delta and Beibu Gulf areas, and some Southeast Asia countries.

Zhuhai Lianzhou General Aviation Airport terminal [Photo courtesy Zhuhai Daily]

Located in the northwest of Doumen's Lianzhou Town, the airport faces Jiangmen at the fork of the Hutiaomen Waterway and Lanyi River. It was put into operation for flight training, aviation exhibitions, aircraft assembly and private plane refueling after a trial flight in April 2019. The first short-haul air route to Hainan Province's Danzhou occurred on Dec 31, 2019.

Second-phase expansion of the airport is a major project in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) for the Guangdong Comprehensive Transport System. With total investment of 1.95 billion yuan ($304.7 million), the project will cover land area of 150 hectares (371 acres).

The airport will be constructed to 4C-standard while the current runway will be extended to 2,400 m (2,625 yd), long enough for a Boeing 737. A 1,550-m (1,695-yd) parallel taxiway and four vertical contact channels as well as support facilities include an aviation manufacturing logistics zone, seadrome, and townlet. 

Part of a sea-land-air-rail transport network in Zhuhai's west wing and the Greater Bay Area, Doumen will also facilitate construction of an "Eight Horizontal & Eleven Vertical" skeleton road network and North Hezhou as a key transport hub with high-speed railways, subways, and intercity MRTs.

Meanwhile, a second terminal and other facilities are being added to Zhuhai (Jinwan) Airport. By 2027, it is to handle 198,000 flights, 27.5 million passengers, and 104,000 tons of cargo and mail annually.