The Foshan Shadi airport went viral on Chinese social media sites like WeChat and Weibo because it named “the most ghetto airport in China.”
One social media commenter writes, “LOL at writing flight info by hand, just like some restaurant’s daily specials. Lack of gender separated toilets, aesthetics of old bus stations.” Another says, “Still better than JFK.”
The airport in my hometown went viral on Chinese social media because it named the most ghetto airport in China. Wanna visit hood airport? pic.twitter.com/EyMYqb8ors
— 萨迪克观察者 (@yifullofsin) October 31, 2023
The airport is a mere 26 miles by air from Guangzhou and 56 miles from Shenzhen. So the Pearl River Delta region is well-served by air already.
Foshan is a dual use, civilian and military airport, and was closed to commercial traffic from 2002 through 2009. There’s a new airport in the workds to replace it called the Pearl River Delta International Airport (New Guangzhou International Airport) which will be coming in Genghe town, in the Gaoming District and it began construction last year.
As far as I’m aware, Foshan is served only by China Eastern low cost subsidiary China United Airlines, which operates a secondary hub there. The airport may be ‘ghetto’ but it keeps costs low, perfect for low cost carriers and flight prices are reflective of that.
The cheapest you can get from my hood to Inner Mongolia is ¥10(1.37 dollars) imagine flying from New York to Austin in $10?
— 萨迪克观察者 (@yifullofsin) October 31, 2023
(HT: @AirEVthingTRNSP)
I am from Foshan and have never flown from this airport. CAN is close enough. Also, they are building a large new Pearl River Delta International Airport (PRDIA) in Foshan, which should start construction later this year, so there’s no reason to renovate this one.
What I find interesting is how flights operate so safely and so economically day in day out without $500k pilots and 1500 “flight” hour copilots.
On my first trip for business to China in 1976 I was invited by the Government –
At my hotel I broke a bathroom glass and at check out I was charged one US cent for replacement glass -at check out received handwritten bill,
back then if wanted to travel H.K. –Canton -Shanghai Hong Kong you could not buy a round trip ticket and you had to wait until you got to the next city to buy the next leg of your trip f-orget seat assignments !!!
Once on a plane that was overbooked — no problem, they put “folding chairs in the aisle
I can tell you endless stories about china
Fittingly, the Chinese version of United Airlines serves that airport 🙂
I LOVE low cost operations. That place reeks of low cost! It’s like the CLT of China.
Gary, any reason You took down the October 20th article about “New Citi Business Card a must with AAdvantage Business program” article? I was really looking forward to a response and then using Your sign-up link for the card. Do want my questions answered first though. Thanks.
https://viewfromthewing.com/new-aadvantage-business-program-makes-citi-card-must-have/#:~:text=Base%20earn%20in%20AAdvantage%20Business,annual%20fee%20the%20first%20year.
I flew from Foshan twice this year, the exterior (roadside) of the airport is much improved since some of these photos were taken, but the rest is the same. Past the entrance it really is a bus terminal since you immediately get on a bus that takes you to the actual terminal a bit further into the base. I doubt handwritten boarding passes have happened for a while since they had all the usual systems at the check in area including self check-in kiosks. All window shades must be closed for taxi, takeoff (until 5 minutes after departure), and landing to avoid seeing military activity.
It’s pretty convenient considering how far Baiyun airport is from Guangzhou and the prices can be better than CAN, too. I took a 20-minute train from Guangzhou to Foshan West and a bus to the airport in a similar time to taking the Guangzhou Metro to Baiyun Airport.
@Benjamin G – I rescheduled the post, I think I answered questions in it
China United Airlines is an airline historically affiliated with the Chinese air force (the Chinese military historically ran lots of side businesses, less true these days). That’s why they are allowed at dual-use airports that other Chinese airlines cannot fly from. I flew them once from Beijing Nanyuan airport (another dual-use airport with lots of rusting ex-Soviet designs sitting on the tarmac). On board, nothing special or distinguishing, but I won’t forget the experience at the airport.
I’ll take a bus station like airport if it means $2 plane tickets.