Guangzhou Airport Economic Zone/Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Comprehensive Bonded Zone

Guangzhou Airport Economic Zone/Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Comprehensive Bonded Zone [Photo/VCG]

The Guangzhou Airport Economic Zone, located in the north of Guangzhou city, Guangdong province, is the core carrier of Guangzhou's international aviation hub construction. It covers an area of 116 square kilometers, including 56 sq km of Baiyun district and 60 sq km of Huadu district, involving 6 sub-districts (towns), 49 administrative villages, and encompassing a population of about 150,000. 

As one of China's 12 pilot zones for the airport industry, the Guangzhou Airport Economic Zone has so far established five high-end airport industrial clusters for aircraft maintenance and passenger aircraft to cargo conversion, aviation logistics, aviation headquarters, airport cross-border e-commerce and aircraft leasing.

Boeing and Airbus, the top two aircraft makers, both settled their passenger-to-cargo aircraft projects in the zone, making it the country's largest maintenance center for aircraft and the largest base for converting passenger aircraft into cargo aircraft. Meanwhile, a group of domestic and foreign logistic giants, including FedEx, DHL and SF, have set up companies or logistics bases inside the zone, making it one of the largest airport logistics centers in China. 

A total of 43 projects were signed and started construction in 2017, with an aggregate investment of more than 70 billion yuan ($10.08 billion). The maintenance business earned 3.13 billion yuan in 2017, representing an increase of 17.7 percent from a year before and 1 billion yuan from that of 2014. 

Imports and exports rose nearly 28 percent year-on-year to 16.6 billion yuan in 2017, maintaining a double-digit growth over the past few years. E-commerce in the airport economic zone also recorded strong growth. Imports and exports of cross-border e-commerce products surged more than 50 per cent to reach 3.7 billion yuan. 

The establishment of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Comprehensive Bonded Zone, the largest airport comprehensive bonded zone in China, was approved on July 3, 2010 by the State Council. Located in the Guangzhou Airport Economic Zone, the bonded area covers nearly 740 hectares and consists of three main parts: the north area, the central area and the south area.

Located at the northern end of Baiyun Airport, the central area focuses on the development of bonded logistics, aviation maintenance, aircraft leasing, high-end commodity bonded trade, and cultural and creative businesses. The north area in Huadu district focuses on the development of cross-border e-commerce, pharmaceutical distribution and other businesses while the south area in Baiyun district mainly conducts business related to biomedicine, medical devices, electronic information research and manufacture, and aviation training.

It is one of the most comprehensive bonded areas in the country, integrating with the airport port operation area. It has the functions of bonded processing, bonded logistics, bonded services, and more.