Guangzhou’s Baiyun International Airport has been named the best airport for departures in the Asia-Pacific region among hubs handling more than 40 million passengers, securing the title for a sixth consecutive year in Airports Council International’s (ACI) Airport Service Quality (ASQ) awards. The 2025 accolade is based on passenger satisfaction surveys and places Baiyun among the top-performing airports worldwide for customer experience.
ACI’s ASQ Customer Experience Awards draw on real-time feedback from travellers and benchmark airports on factors ranging from check-in and security to cleanliness, retail and overall ambience. Baiyun ranked joint first out of 367 airports surveyed and was one of just nine Asia-Pacific airports in the 40‑million‑plus category to receive the departures award, underlining the consistency of its service standards at very high passenger volumes.
The latest recognition caps a run of honours for the Guangdong hub. In 2024, Skytrax named Guangzhou Baiyun the “Best Airport in China” at its World Airport Awards, after the facility had already led global airport service quality rankings by ACI for four straight years. Industry analysts say those back‑to‑back awards show Baiyun has moved into the top tier of international airports in terms of service, facilities and operational reliability.
[See more: Macao sees 1.2 million visitors in the first week of the Lunar New Year holiday]
Operationally, 2025 was a record year. Baiyun’s passenger throughput exceeded 80 million for the first time, with official data later putting the figure at about 83.6 million trips and 2.44 million tonnes of cargo and mail – both all‑time highs – cementing its role as a core hub in the Greater Bay Area (GBA). The airport also expanded its reach with 76 new, resumed or boosted international and regional routes, pushing its overseas network to more than 100 destinations.
This year’s Spring Festival travel rush has highlighted that growth. Between 15 and 23 February, Baiyun handled around 15,000 flights – an average of 1,656 movements a day, up 7.6 per cent year on year – and 2.4 million passengers, a 9.5 per cent increase. Daily traffic hit back‑to‑back records on 22 and 23 February, at 283,400 and 286,400 passengers respectively.
The award also reflects the wider momentum of the GBA airport cluster, which processed more than 230 million passenger trips in 2025 and is now regarded as one of the world’s leading aviation groupings. With Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong acting as core hubs and adding dozens of international routes between them, aviation planners say the region’s airports are becoming a key driver of China’s integration with global air networks.
