Abandoned Ghost Airports Sweep China 180 Billion Debt and Missing Passengers

A person in mainland China posted a video saying he had arrived at a brightly lit airport with almost no one there. He said it felt like he had stepped into a parallel world and it was terrifying. A blogger in Nanjing also wrote on social media that it was the first time he had ever seen an airport completely empty and that it gave him the chills. One person commented that it did look a little scary and that lately a lot of people at airports have felt as if they had entered some You can tell how hard business is these days just by looking at the Baiyun airport in Guangzhou. I've flown so many times and I've never seen so few people. In recent years, a series of strange and puzzling scenes has kept appearing online, sparking intense discussion. Massive modern airports across China, built at huge cost and with great ambition, are now sitting empty, almost like abandoned ruins. The emptiness is so extreme that it feels unsettling. Videos shared on social media clearly show that although these grand terminals are lavishly decorated and built on an impressive scale, there are very few passengers inside. The contrast makes them look desolate. In Guangdong, one of China's economic powerhouses, a traveler filming at the airport could not help but say that there's not a single person. There were only two of them in the entire security area. Even Shanghai, as one of the world's leading financial centers, is no different. One person online specifically wrote that the international terminal at Pudong International has become unusually quiet and the bustling scene it once had is now completely gone. One person filming at the airport said, this is too scary. Shanghai Pudong is such a huge airport, but this departure hall is so empty. The economic slump is so severe, it's hard to believe. One commenter said that seeing Shanghai airport turn into this was honestly a little frightening. What people saw at Shengle International Airport in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, looked even more bleak. The person filming it said it was the most lifeless airport he had ever seen. On the huge open tarmac, there was only a single plane. The terminal itself was enormous, but inside there was not a single person to be seen. In recent years, China has pushed ahead with civil aviation construction at an astonishing pace, trying to turn airports into engines of urban growth. Under the government's 14th five-year plan, the number of civil passenger airports was set to reach 270 by 2025. This building frenzy did not stop at major cities. It spread deep into remote county-level areas as well. Of the more than 70 airports built over the past decade, more than half were located in lower-level administrative regions. Some provinces even promoted the aggressive slogan of having an airport in every county. The reason local governments have been so eager to build airports is their faith in optimistic projections from international institutions. For every dollar invested in civil aviation, it was said that $8 in economic return could be generated. But in reality, that investment-driven growth story has badly fallen apart. In sharp contrast to these massive terminals and vast airport grounds are the tiny number of passengers. Behind the numbers lies a collapse in the balance between supply and demand. At present, most of China's small and medium-sized airports are stuck in long-term heavy losses. Infrastructure does have a public function, but when expansion ignores economic reality and pushes ahead blindly, the hope for one-to-eight return can quickly turn into an eight-to-one financial black hole. These carefully built modern airports are gradually changing from city landmarks into nightmares that drain local finances. One of the most extreme examples is the Fuyuan Dongji Airport in Heilongjiang Province, located at the easternmost point of China. The airport, which has a 2,500-meter-long runway, has been humorously dubbed China's loneliest airport. Despite being only about 20 kilometers from the city center, making it quite accessible, its actual operations are extremely bleak. Since it officially opened in 2014, although there are flights to Beijing and Harbin, the statistics show that the airport's total number of arrivals and departures for the year is less than 1,000, averaging only two departures per day. Even with an international route to Russia's Blagoveshchensk, it only runs three flights a week, a symbolic number. During the times when the passenger flow was even lower, Dongji Airport has only one flight a day to Harbin. When the plane takes off, the airport staff essentially clock out for the day. Looking at the annual data, the total number of passengers at the airport is less than 60,000, meaning fewer than 200 passengers come and go daily. Due to the extremely low volume, staff workload seems unusually relaxed. Some netizens even joke, there are more employees at the airport than passengers. It's like a holiday at work. Even more unbelievable numbers are seen at an airport at a prefecture-level city in Hunan province. There, reports have mentioned that its daily passenger count is as low as just 19 people. With such a low usage rate, the airport's operations are inevitably in constant, huge financial losses. For the local government, shutting down the airport would turn its astronomical initial investment into a waste, but maintaining it would continue to drain finances. Caught in this awkward dilemma, places like Shaanxi have even issued absurd orders like official business trips must prioritize flights. However, such emergency measures are like trying to revive a dead horse. It clearly cannot support long-term operations. A deeper crisis lies in the growing number of unfinished airports that are costly and uncertain. A deeper crisis lies in the growing number of unfinished airports. A netizen recently posted a video on social media showing what appears to be a construction site at an airport in Hanzhong, Shaanxi. This is an airport that has been abandoned after years of construction delays. According to local residents, the airport covers almost 3 acres and has a total investment of over 300 million yuan. Now, it's overrun with weeds, and the abandoned heavy machinery is rusty and falling apart. It's a desolate site. I don't know what happened here. Why was such a massive airport investment left unfinished? It's such a waste. Locals have even called it the worst airport. However, the most shocking scandal to the public comes from Pingyu General Airport in Henan Province. The project, which began with much fanfare in 2018, had a total investment of 2.4 billion yuan. But soon after, it collapsed due to cash flow issues, causing construction to come to a halt. The company responsible for this project was Changda Company, a state-owned enterprise fully funded by the Pingyu County Transportation Bureau. Even more perplexing is that despite the company being deep in financial trouble and abandoning the project for three years, it suddenly spent nearly 300 million yuan in 2023 to sign a contract with an AI company, purchasing 5,000 drones. This move has made the situation extremely strange. There has been a growing wave of online criticism questioning the true source of this massive sum of money. Many are wondering whether the company had diverted poverty alleviation funds from wealthier regions like Public speculation suggests that behind this bizarre contract, there must be deep-rooted corruption and hidden dealings. Why does this blind, reckless construction continue to appear? The root cause is deeply tied to the unique performance evaluation standards and corruption structures within China's bureaucratic system. According to insiders, the top priority for officials is to attract investment to the region and quickly deliver what they call impressive achievements to secure promotions. As a result, local governments, under pressure to show off their city's competitiveness, often face the unspoken expectation to build grand airports. After all, new airports are seen not only as engines for local development, but also as direct indicators of the success of investment attraction and the political future of officials. Furthermore, the larger the project, the more room there is for corruption. Even more absurdly, the central government subsidy program has fueled this construction frenzy. According to official document, like the interim measures for small airport subsidies, because the central government provides infrastructure support, local governments rush to complete projects with a mentality of build it while you can. They often completely ignore the actual needs of the area, insisting on creating extravagant and high-standard facilities. In fact, over a decade ago, Li Jiaxiang, the former director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, had already sounded the alarm. He admitted that out of the 200 airports nationwide, only about 50 were profitable, and the rest were all in a state of loss. He even exposed that airport construction companies across the country were already burdened with astronomical debts. He pointed out that this blind rush to expand without overall planning has resulted in terminals that are empty, with little hope of even attracting regular flights. At the same time, experts have clearly stated that there is no direct correlation between the numbers of airports and the level of local economic development. For example, Guangdong province, which has the strongest economy in China, has only 9 airports. On the other hand, Sichuan province, which relies heavily on fiscal subsidies, has as many as 17. Looking at this from a city level, this contradiction seems even more ironic. Take Suzhou. It is a major economic hub, ranking 6th in GDP. It has a population of 13 million. It still doesn't have its own airport. The city's residents have been hoping for an airport for 40 years, but it hasn't materialized. To fly, they still have to travel long distances to Shanghai or Wuxi. Yet, in the Gansu prefecture in Sichuan province, there are three airports packed into the area. Additionally, relevant parties have pointed out that there has been intense political jockeying and irrational, vicious competition surrounding cities like Suzhou, Nantong and Jiaxing. They're vying for the title of Shanghai's third airport. This blind construction frenzy, lacking planning, is pushing China towards an unprecedented debt crisis. According to a report from Reuters, in January 2024, the Chinese government issued orders to 12 high-risk provinces and cities. It required them to delay or halt infrastructure projects funded by the national government, including highways, airports and urban rail expansions. In order to meet their GDP targets on paper, local governments have accumulated astronomical amounts of hidden debt. According to IMF data, by 2022, these debts had reached between 92 trillion and 113 trillion yuan, accounting for 76% of the country's GDP. After 2023, local governments, still struggling to repay their debts, had to borrow more money to cover old debts. Since October of last year, more than 20 provinces and cities have issued over 1.3 trillion yuan in special refinancing bonds. This is approximately 180 billion US dollars. While the government initially proposed a 40 trillion yuan infrastructure investment plan as an economic countermeasure, the sudden halt to infrastructure projects highlights that local debts had already spiraled out of control. Moreover, this issue is not limited to China. In November last year, media reports exposed serious corruption allegations regarding the Pokhara International Airport in Nepal. Built by China's state-owned enterprise China National Machinery Industry Corporation, as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, the airport has now become the focus of a major investigation by Nepal's anti-corruption agencies. Media reports indicate that contractors are accused of deliberately inflating project costs and prioritizing their own company's profits. Local engineers in Nepal have also testified, pointing out that the airport's infrastructure is extremely fragile and does not meet international standards. Although this airport was initially promoted by the Chinese government as the gateway to the Himalayas, it now lacks even regular international flights, and there's no hope of generating enough revenue to repay the loans. Despite this, the Nepalese government is still forced to grit its teeth and begin repaying the enormous loan to the Import-Export Bank of China. Experts point out that this is just the latest example of China's overseas infrastructure projects. Whether in Nepal's impoverished areas or in China's local cities, these oversized airports are putting on airs. They're built well beyond their capacity, and inevitably, future generations will struggle to repay these heavy debts. Similarly, the situation in China's railway system is no less concerning. Recently, a netizen reported to the media that the Jiulangshan Station on the Changchutan Intercity Railway has been out of service for an extended period. It only opened a few years ago. The Juzhou City Transportation Bureau confirmed that the main reason for the suspension was low passenger flow, with daily passengers sometimes numbering in single digits. Public information shows that Jiulangshan Station has a total investment of over 125 million yuan. It started operations in December 2016. It was officially suspended in March 2022, with an actual operation time of only about five years. From August 6 to August 20, 2021, the station temporarily stopped passenger services due to the pandemic. During the 2022 Chinese New Year, the daily passenger flow was under 10 people. According to calculations, the operational cost per passenger was extremely high. Therefore, the railway department decided to suspend operations in March 2022. Local residents complained. The station is built in the mountains, too far from the city. There are almost no dense residential areas within a one kilometer radius, and usually no one comes to take the train. Looking back at the initial design, this choice of location seems like a gamble. Sina Finance commented that this kind of planning, disconnected from regional population density, industrial foundations, and travel habits, result in idle stations. But it's a widespread phenomenon in China. Media outlets have found that there are over 20 stations nationwide that are either unused or shut down due to their remote location, lack of surrounding infrastructure, and insufficient passenger flow. Netizens responded, what were they doing before construction? How many of these railway stations are there across the country? Blind investments should be held accountable. The same goes for subways. Stations are built in places where nobody goes, while there's not a single station where people actually live. As a result, with the real estate market downturn, the remote places are even more desolate. The massive empty terminals, the gradually decaying and abandoned runways, and the ghostly train stations have become modern relics of blind investment. What people see is simply an economic ruin built under the impulses of political ambition and corruption.