Chongqing Jiangbei Airport (CKG) 2026: everything flies from T3 now

Not T2 — that is the thing to know. Every flight now leaves from T3, after airlines moved across in two phases during 2025 and the last four on 23 December; T2 is closed for refurbishment. The gate letter tells you the building: E/F/G/H are in T3A, J/K/L/M are in T3B. Either way you check in at T3A, so the letter changes when you should stop shopping, not where you should arrive. T3B is not a separate international terminal: it is T3A's domestic satellite concourse, with no check-in, no security and no landside hall, so all ticketing, bag drop, security and every international, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan flight happen at T3A. The two are linked by a free automated people mover.

One, and that makes the decision easy. Jiangbei (CKG) is the city's only commercial airport, so any flight labelled Chongqing lands here. A second airport at Bishan has an approved site and mostly finished pre-feasibility work, but construction is only expected to begin around 2026 with opening targeted for roughly 2030 — so for any trip you are planning now, there is no choice to make. There is also no Terminal 4, despite the question coming up: the buildings are T1 (closed since 2017), T2 (closed for refurbishment), T3A and T3B.

Underneath T3A's south side — a genuine high-speed station called Jiangbei Airport (江北机场站), opened at the end of December 2022, on three underground levels crossing Metro Line 10 at right angles. The airport station (江北机场站) sits underground on T3A's south side, between the terminal's B1 level and the transport interchange below it — take a lift down from arrivals and follow the railway signs. Reckon 10 to 15 minutes from the aircraft door to the ticket gate with hand baggage, 20 to 30 with hold bags or from a T3B gate. It has no street entrance at all: arriving by car, say you want the railway entrance or you will be set down at the ordinary taxi rank. Worth using when the timing works: Chongqing North is about 14 minutes away by train against 25 to 33 on the metro, and there are direct services out of the city to Chengdu East, fastest around 1h35. The catch is how few there are — a single-figure count in each direction on a sample weekday, all of them between late morning and early evening, so check the timetable before you build a plan on it.

It depends what "downtown" means for you. For Chongqing North Railway Station, the train from the airport's own station takes about 14 minutes when one is running, and Metro Line 10's express service about 25. For Jiefangbei, Line 10 with a change to Line 2 is roughly 50 minutes for ¥7-8, and a car covers the 24.5 km in about 32 minutes off-peak for ¥55-80 — much slower in the evening peak. ⚠️ Take Line 10, not Line 3: Line 3 goes to the T2 station, and T2 no longer has flights.

Not where most guides say. Ride-hail pickup is on level B1 of the T3 car park — not the arrivals kerb and not departures. Come out of domestic arrivals, follow the 网约车 signs down by lift or escalator, and you reach a blue-canopied area with numbered bays. Agree the bay number with your driver in the app, because some drivers wait inside the structure and some just outside it. Late at night matching is close to instant. A foreign Visa or Mastercard linked to Alipay International covers the fare; download DiDi Rider, the international app, before you land.

T3A — and it happens in two different places, which is what catches people out. First, before you check any bags, take the goods and paperwork to customs in check-in zone B for the stamp. Then clear security and collect the cash refund at the counter inside the international departures lounge. Doing it the other way round does not work: once the goods are in the hold the stamp cannot be given. ⚠️ On an early departure the customs desk may be unstaffed — there is a phone to call someone over, and travellers report waiting around 20 minutes. Build that in. Keep purchases in their original packaging; customs do spot-check. Eligible purchases need the Tax Free sign at the point of sale, a single receipt over ¥200 — the threshold dropped from ¥500 in April 2025 — and the refund form completed by the retailer. Arrive 30 to 60 minutes earlier than your usual check-in time to absorb it.

One, and it is on the international side: China Telecom at T3A international arrivals, level 1, right beside the currency exchange window — 7, 15 and 30-day tourist SIMs on a passport alone, done in about five minutes. ⚠️ The general carrier kiosks that used to sit in domestic arrivals are gone, so if you land on a domestic flight there is nowhere in the building to buy a Chinese number. Real-name registration is required by law either way. The alternative most foreign travellers use is an eSIM bought before departure plus their home SIM left on roaming for one-time passcodes.

You can, but this is a poor airport for it. ⚠️ A poor airport to sleep in, by the accounts of people who have tried. There are few free recliners in T3 and travellers report ending up on the floor; airside there are only paid sleep pods and reclining seats. Gates typically do not open for check-in until about 04:30, so an early departure means a long wait in the public hall. Bring an eye mask. A small cluster of hotels sits at the T3 arrivals level, including hourly-rate rooms aimed at exactly this problem. No international chain is at the airport itself — those are in Guanyinqiao, roughly 20 minutes away by car and on the metro.

Subtract two hours of travelling from whatever your layover is, then decide. Under four hours, stay in the building — and if your onward gate is in T3B, remember the people mover costs about 20 minutes each way once you count walking and queueing. Four to eight hours buys one thing in the city: Line 10 reaches Jiefangbei in about 50 minutes each way, so a Hongyadong evening works if your timing overlaps dusk. Eight hours or more is a genuine half-day. Chongqing is a 240-hour visa-free transit port, but most Western nationalities now enter visa-free for 30 days and never need the transit rule. Check your own passport rather than assuming either way.

Check your ticket's 出发站 field first, because it decides for you. Most trains go from Chongqing North, which is the best connected to the airport — about 14 minutes by train from the airport's own station, or 25 on the Line 10 express. Chongqing West and Chongqing East each have one direct train a day from the airport station and are otherwise a long metro ride or a 30-plus minute drive. The airport station itself also runs direct to Chengdu East, which means you can change cities without entering Chongqing at all.