Luoyang Beijiao Airport (LYA) 2026 Guide

Getting out of the airport

Three city bus routes call at the stop outside the terminal, and one of them is the reason this airport is easier to use than its size suggests.

Route	Where it goes	When	How often
1	Luoyang Longmen high-speed station	from the airport ~06:00-21:55; back 07:15-23:10	every 15 min peak, 20 off-peak
98	Wangcheng Square, central Luoyang	from the airport ~06:00-22:00	every 8 min peak, 15 off-peak
27	Xiyuan Road, the university district	from the airport 06:23-20:18	every 9 min peak, 13-15 off-peak

All three are about ¥1 or ¥1.5. The single most useful service here and the one every English write-up misses. It leaves the terminal from about 06:00 to 21:55 and returns from the station 07:15 to 23:10, every 15 minutes at peak and 20 off-peak.

The route-83 problem, since you will meet it elsewhere. Bus 83 is real, and it does reach Luoyang Station, which is presumably how it ended up in so many airport write-ups — including, until this rebuild, ours. But its nearest stops are on Airport Road roughly a kilometre south of the building, and it never calls at the terminal. Standing outside arrivals waiting for an 83 is a way to miss three buses that were going where you wanted.

Taxi and ride-hail

The meter opens at ¥6 for 2 km and adds ¥1.5 a kilometre, with ¥2 on top between 22:00 and 06:00, which is why the whole trip lands around ¥25. Ignore anyone holding a sign inside the hall. Reckon on ~¥20-30 for ~16 min for 9.5 km (Amap, 2026-08-03), which is cheap enough that the bus is a preference rather than a saving. Longmen station is further out — 20.3 km, about 25 minutes — so that run costs more like ¥50-60 and the ¥1.5 bus starts to look considerably better.

The metro does not come here — but you will still use it

Luoyang has two metro lines and neither reaches the airport; the northern extension of Line 2 that would have was planned and never built. That is worth stating plainly because the network matters once you are in town, and this page previously did not mention it existed. Line 2 calls at both Luoyang Longmen high-speed station and Luoyang Station; Line 1 runs through the old-town sights — Luoyi Ancient City, Lijing Gate, the Yingtian Gate — and the two interchange at Jiefang Road. So bus 1 to Longmen and then Line 2 covers most arrivals without a taxi at all.

Book a private airport transfer for a late landing or a group with luggage

What Beijiao actually is

Most small Chinese airports are small because their city is small. Luoyang has seven million people, and the explanation here is different and more interesting: the field is operated by the China Civil Aviation Flight Academy and is a working pilot-training base as well as a military-civil dual-use airport. A great deal of what moves on that apron is a training circuit, not a departure.

That is the real constraint on the airline schedule, and it is why the commercial side cannot simply grow into the gap: the airspace and the movements are already spoken for. The 2021 master plan answers it by extending the runway and building a larger terminal east of the current one, with a 2035 horizon — neither of which exists yet.

one passenger terminal, handling everything

About 14,800 m² with three airbridges, in service since 2010. Arrivals and departures are both on level 1, so the walk from gate to kerb is a matter of a few minutes. The 2021 master plan adds a larger terminal to its east and extends the runway to 3,400 m, but neither is built.

Where LYA flies — including the one nobody mentions

The 2026 summer-autumn season, which runs from 29 March to 24 October, has nine airlines flying 14 routes to 21 cities on about 103 flights a week — roughly fifteen a day.

There is an international route, and almost every English source will tell you otherwise. Urumqi Airlines runs a Urumqi–Luoyang–Bangkok service, so Luoyang has a boarding point for Bangkok Suvarnabhumi — and the 2026 season increased the frequency rather than cutting it. This is the most out-of-date thing published in English about the airport, and an earlier version of this page carried it too.

The domestic map is the genuinely odd part, and it repays a moment's attention: Shanghai Pudong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Sanya, Haikou, Zhuhai, Fuzhou, Kunming, Nanning, Guiyang, Nanchang, Dalian, Shenyang, Harbin, Hohhot, Hailar, Chifeng, Hami and Urumqi.

Notice what is missing. No Beijing. No Xi'an. No Nanjing or Hangzhou. Those are the cities a visitor would expect a Luoyang flight to serve, and they are absent for a good reason — the high-speed railway already does them faster door-to-door than a plane can, so nobody sells the seat. What is left is the set of places the train does not reach quickly: the far north-west and north-east.

The other half of the explanation is in the route names. Several of these are three-leg runs — Urumqi–Luoyang–Bangkok, Hami–Luoyang–Shanghai Pudong, Luoyang–Zhuhai–Haikou. Luoyang is frequently a stop on somebody else's route rather than an origin in its own right, which is exactly why the map reaches Hami and Hailar but not Beijing.

Seasons change twice a year and this one is a snapshot. Check your own city against live schedules before you plan around any of it — that goes double for the Bangkok service, whose days have already been re-timed at least once.

Fly into Luoyang, or into Zhengzhou and take the train?

For almost every foreign visitor, Zhengzhou. Twenty-one mostly domestic destinations is a real network but it is not an international one, and Zhengzhou Xinzheng (CGO) is Henan's actual gateway — a far wider route map, more frequencies and usually cheaper fares. Luoyang residents make the same calculation in the same way: fly from Beijiao when the destination is served and the timing suits, take the train to Zhengzhou when it is not, on the reasoning that the extra two hours buys back several hundred yuan.

What has changed is that the connection is now genuinely quick, and the way most guides describe it is the slow way round.

By train — 19 minutes to Zhengzhou East, then 40 to Luoyang

Zhengzhou airport has its own intercity railway station, 新郑机场站, on level B2 of the T2 terminal — you do not leave the building. It reaches Zhengzhou East in 19 minutes for ¥12, about 16 services a day. Zhengzhou East to Luoyang Longmen is then roughly 40 minutes at about ¥44.50 in second class, with about 47 trains a day. The airport metro also exists and is on the same level of the same building, but it is slower and dearer for this journey.

By coach — one vehicle, and it runs until 23:30

The 豫州行 intercity coach runs hourly between CGO and Luoyang for ¥70-100 depending on where you board, taking 2 to 2.5 hours directly to the terminal building. Out of Luoyang it runs from about 04:30 to 17:00. Coming back from CGO it runs from 10:00 to 23:30 — and that is the number that matters, because a long-haul landing at 22:00 has no train left and does have a coach.

Luoyang has a city air terminal, and it is in the one place that makes it useful. The Zhengzhou-airport city terminal sits immediately west of Luoyang Longmen high-speed station, on level 2 of the Longmen coach centre — so if you arrive in Luoyang by train you can walk across and pick the coach up there. Ticket holders are reported to ride connecting city transport to it free.

Zhengzhou → Luoyang trains book with your passport name exactly as printed

The other way in: pair Luoyang with Xi'an

Xi'an Xianyang is 370 km west and nobody flies there in order to reach Luoyang. It is on this page because the two cities sit on the same high-speed line, and the pairing is one of the more natural itineraries in China — two ancient capitals, the Terracotta Army at one end and the Longmen Grottoes at the other, with 1h 15m – 2h 10m of train between them.

So the sensible version is not a transfer at all: fly into Xi'an, spend two or three days there, then ride east and give Luoyang the time it deserves. Our Xi'an Xianyang Airport guide covers that end, including the two separate airport metro stations that catch people out.

Xi'an → Luoyang trains

Inside, and what to do with a spare few hours

One building, no concourses and no shuttle, so the which-terminal anxiety that dominates the big Chinese airports simply does not arise here. Arrivals and departures share a single level, security is quick, and the walk from the kerb to a gate is a couple of minutes.

Under 4 hours

Stay put. The terminal is small but the city is 16 minutes away, so a meal in town is possible if you are confident — just nothing with an opening time attached.

4-8 hours

Enough for the Luoyi Ancient City old-town area or the Wangcheng Park district, both a short taxi from the centre. The Longmen Grottoes are the wrong call — 40 minutes each way plus a proper visit does not fit.

Overnight

Sleep in the city. There is no terminal hotel, and the handful of guesthouses on Airport Road exist for early departures rather than for anyone who has a choice.

The city being sixteen minutes away changes the arithmetic of a long connection here more than it would anywhere else — a four-hour gap is genuinely usable, which is not true at most airports.

Sleeping, connectivity and the transit rules

Where to sleep

No hotel in or attached to the terminal, and nothing airside for an overnight wait.

A cluster of small hotels and guesthouses sits on Airport Road within a kilometre or so of the doors — functional, and there for people on a dawn departure. For any other purpose the city wins on food, sights and the metro, and it is not far enough away to trade those for proximity.

In the city, the two areas worth choosing between are the old town around Luoyi Ancient City — walkable, on metro Line 1, and where the evening happens — and the Longmen station area, which is right for a first-or-last night built around the grottoes and an early train. Our where to stay in Luoyang guide compares all four districts properly.

Hotels in the old town Hotels by Longmen station

Connectivity

No carrier desk worth planning around in a terminal this size. Sort data before you fly — an eSIM for data plus your home SIM left on roaming to receive one-time passcodes is the setup that works, and it matters here because you will want a ride-hail app live the moment you walk out.

The full arrangement is in our connectivity guide. A foreign Visa or Mastercard linked to Alipay covers the bus fare, the taxi and everything inside the terminal.

240-hour visa-free transit

⚠️ LYA is not a 240-hour visa-free transit port. Henan's port is Zhengzhou Xinzheng (CGO), and the permitted area is the whole of Henan province — so Luoyang is comfortably inside the zone, but you have to arrive and leave through Zhengzhou to use it.

In practice that is not much of a limitation, since you were probably flying into Zhengzhou anyway — and it means the Longmen Grottoes, the Shaolin Temple and the old town all sit inside a transit window without a visa application. Check your passport against the transit rules before you build a trip on it.

Frequently asked questions

Does Luoyang Airport have international flights?

Yes — one, and it is easy to miss because most write-ups say there are none. Urumqi Airlines operates a Urumqi–Luoyang–Bangkok service, so you can board at Luoyang for Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, and the 2026 summer-autumn season increased its frequency rather than dropping it. It runs a small number of times a week. Sources disagree on which days — the route was reported as a single weekly rotation when it resumed, and traveller reports describe two or three weekly departures after the increase — so check live schedules rather than trusting any fixed day, including ours.

How do I get from Luoyang Beijiao Airport into the city?

City bus route 98 runs from the stop outside the terminal to Wangcheng Square in the middle of Luoyang for about ¥1.5, roughly 06:00 to 22:00. A taxi covers the 9.5 km in about 16 minutes for around ¥20-30 — the meter opens at ¥6 for the first 2 km then adds ¥1.5 a kilometre, with ¥2 extra between 22:00 and 06:00. Route 27 serves the university district on Xiyuan Road instead. Ignore route 83: it is a real Luoyang bus that reaches Luoyang Station, but it runs along Airport Road about a kilometre south of the terminal and does not call here.

Is there a bus from Luoyang airport to Luoyang Longmen high-speed station?

Yes, and it is the most useful service at this airport. City bus route 1 runs direct from the terminal to Luoyang Longmen station, every 15 minutes at peak and 20 off-peak, from about 06:00 to 21:55, returning from the station 07:15 to 23:10. It costs around ¥1.5. A taxi does the 20.3 km in about 25 minutes if the timing does not suit. Guides that tell you no bus serves Longmen and you must take a taxi — including an earlier version of this one — are wrong.

Does the Luoyang metro go to the airport?

No. Luoyang has two metro lines and neither reaches Beijiao airport; the planned northern extension of Line 2 has not been built. The metro still matters once you are in town, though, and the old page never mentioned it existed: Line 2 calls at both Luoyang Longmen high-speed station and Luoyang Station, and Line 1 runs through the old-town sights including Luoyi Ancient City and Lijing Gate, with the two lines interchanging at Jiefang Road.

Which cities can I fly to from Luoyang?

Twenty-one in the 2026 summer-autumn season, on 14 routes across 9 airlines and about 103 flights a week. They are Shanghai Pudong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Sanya, Haikou, Zhuhai, Fuzhou, Kunming, Nanning, Guiyang, Nanchang, Dalian, Shenyang, Harbin, Hohhot, Hailar, Chifeng, Hami and Urumqi, plus Bangkok. Note what is absent: Beijing, Xi'an, Nanjing and Hangzhou are not served, because the high-speed railway already does those better than a plane can.

Should I fly into Luoyang, or into Zhengzhou and take the train?

Zhengzhou (CGO), for almost every foreign visitor. Luoyang's network reaches 21 mostly domestic cities; Zhengzhou Xinzheng is Henan's international gateway with a far wider route map and usually lower fares. The connection is quick: CGO has its own intercity railway station on level B2 of its T2 terminal, 19 minutes to Zhengzhou East for ¥12, and Zhengzhou East to Luoyang Longmen is about 40 minutes for roughly ¥44.50 in second class. There is also a direct coach if you would rather not change at all.

Is there a direct bus from Zhengzhou airport to Luoyang?

Yes, and it is worth knowing about for one specific reason. The 豫州行 intercity coach runs hourly between CGO and Luoyang, costs ¥70-100 depending on where you board, and takes 2 to 2.5 hours straight to the terminal building. Out of Luoyang it runs from about 04:30 to 17:00; back from CGO it runs from 10:00 until 23:30 — and that last departure is the point, because it covers a late international arrival long after the final high-speed train has gone.

Can I use the 240-hour visa-free transit to visit Luoyang?

Yes, but not through Luoyang's own airport. LYA is not on the port list. Henan's designated port is Zhengzhou Xinzheng (CGO), and the permitted area is the whole of Henan province — so Luoyang, the Longmen Grottoes and the Shaolin Temple are all comfortably inside the zone. You simply have to arrive and depart through Zhengzhou to use it. As always, the transit route only applies to passports that need a visa in the first place.

Are hotels near Luoyang airport worth it?

Only for a genuinely early departure. The airport is 9.5 km from the city centre — about 16 minutes and roughly ¥25 in a taxi — so it is not remote enough for an airport hotel to buy you anything. There is a cluster of small guesthouses on Airport Road that exist for dawn flights, and nothing in or attached to the terminal. For any other purpose the city has the food, the sights and the metro.

Related Luoyang guides

Luoyang railway stations — Longmen, Luoyang Station and Luoyang East, and which trains use which.
Things to do in Luoyang — the grottoes, the old town and what is worth the day.
Where to stay in Luoyang — four districts compared with verified walk and transit times.
Getting around Luoyang — the two metro lines, the buses and the grottoes shuttle.
White Horse Temple — the first Buddhist temple in China, and how to fit it in.
Luoyang city guide — everything we publish on the city.

Sources

Rebuilt and re-checked 3 August 2026 — bus routes and frequencies from the Luoyang municipal transport listings cross-checked against the airport stop's own map-app record, road times from Amap the same day, the route season from the 2026 summer–autumn announcement, and the taxi reality and airport-vs-Zhengzhou choice from traveller reports. ⭐ That cross-check is what caught this page's old errors: it had routed readers onto a bus that does not call at the terminal while claiming no bus reaches the high-speed station — route 1 does exactly that, every fifteen minutes; its route list named four cities the airport does not serve; and its taxi fares were roughly double the real ones. Two figures still sit between sources and are written as such: the Bangkok service's days of the week, and the city bus fare (¥1 or ¥1.5). Airline schedules change twice a year — read yours off the booking. See the editor's about page.