Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport from buzai232's blog

Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport (IATA: CTU, ICAO: ZUUU) is the major international airport serving Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, China. Located about 16 kilometres (10 mi) southwest of downtown Chengdu to the north of Shuangliu District, Shuangliu airport is an important aviation hub for Western China. Shuangliu Airport is one of the two core hubs for Air China, together with Beijing, as well as the main hub and headquarters for Sichuan Airlines and Chengdu Airlines. China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Lucky Air and Tibet Airlines also have bases at Shuangliu Airport.Hong Kong to Shanghai flights

Chengdu airport is also a 144-hour transit visa-free airport for foreigners from many countries.[citation needed">

Shuangliu Airport handled 42.2 million passengers in 2015. It was among world's top 30 busiest airport in 2015, the fourth-busiest in mainland China, and the busiest in western China.[1"> It was also the fifth-busiest airport in terms of cargo traffic in China for 2013.
The airport, formerly named Shuangguisi Airport, opened as an auxiliary military airfield in 1938 during the Second Sino-Japanese War/World War II. At the time, its runway was only large enough for small biplanes. It was also where the Republic of China Air Force Polikarpov I-15 fighters of the 5th Pursuit Group were based for aerial defense of the Chengtu area against Imperial Japanese bomber raids;[2"> this following the Chinese retreat from Wuhan to Chungking(now Chongqing) as the new provisional capital in aftermath of the Battle of Wuhan against the Imperial Japanese onslaught. Civilian targets were indiscriminately bombed, and ace fighter pilot of the Chinese Air Force Major Wong Sun-shui and Lieutenant Lin Heng (younger brother of renowned architect and poet Lin Huiyin) flying in their I-15 fighter planes were both killed near Shuangliu air base as a result of battling against the world's best fighter aircraft of the time, the A6M "Zero" (Reisen) fighter, in defense of Chengdu on 14 March 1941.[3">[4">[5">[6">

During World War II, the airport was known as Shwangliu (Shuangliu) Airfield and was later used by the United States Army Air Forces Fourteenth Air Force as part of the China Defensive Campaign (1942–1945). It was used as a fighter base by the 33d Fighter Group, which flew P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bombers from the airport in 1944 to support Chinese ground forces, and also by reconnaissance units that operated camera-equipped P-38 Lightnings that located Japanese forces and provided intelligence to the fighter-bombers. The Americans closed their facilities at Shwangliu Airfield at the end of August 1945.