Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport or Pai Yuen Airport was the main airport in Guangzhou

Guangzhou

Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...

, People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

, until August 5, 2004, when it was replaced by the identically named Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport

Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport

Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport is the main airport of Guangzhou, the capital of the province of Guangdong, People's Republic of China. Both airport codes were inherited from the previous Guangzhou airport, and the IATA code reflects Guangzhou's former romanization Canton...

, some 25 kilometers north away. The airport was opened in 1932. "Baiyun" means "white clouds" in Chinese. The airport got this name as it was located beside the Baiyun Mountain

Baiyun Mountain

Baiyun Mountain is a mountain near Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province in China.-History:The name of the mountain derives from the view of peaks shrouded by white clouds in late Spring or when the sky clears after rain, Baiyun Mountain has been a scenic spot since ancient times...

.

Aerial views of the old airport now shows re-development of the airport is underway. Roads now criss-cross across the old runways and the terminal complex is surrounded by new residential buildings and other developments. Several aircraft are now located at the former airports taxiways.

The current Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport is located 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) north of the former airport site.

Incidents and accidents

• On October 2, 1990, Xiamen Airlines
  Xiamen Airlines
  Xiamen Airlines is the first privately owned airline in the People's Republic of China. Established on July 25, 1984 and based in Xiamen, it operates scheduled passenger flights out of Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport and, to a lesser extent, Fuzhou Changle International Airport...
  
   Flight 8301 from Xiamen
  Xiamen
  Xiamen , also known as Amoy , is a major city on the southeast coast of the People's Republic of China. It is administered as a sub-provincial city of Fujian province with an area of and population of 3.53 million...
  
   to Guangzhou
  Guangzhou
  Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
  
  , a Boeing 737-247
  Boeing 737
  The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
  
   jetliner, hijacked shortly after it took off from Xiamen, landed at the airport, sideswiped a China Southwest Airlines
  China Southwest Airlines
  China Southwest Airlines was an airline based in the People's Republic of China. It was merged into Air China in 2002.China Southwest Airlines was headquartered at Chengdu, Sichuan Province and also maintained a hub at Chongqing. The airline was the sole carrier flying to Lhasa until 2002...
  
   Boeing 707
  Boeing 707
  The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on...
  
  , and crashed into a China Southern Airlines
  China Southern Airlines
  China Southern Airlines is an airline headquartered in Baiyun District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China. It is the world's sixth-largest airline measured by passengers carried, and Asia's largest airline in terms of both fleet size and passengers carried...
  
   Boeing 757
  Boeing 757
  The Boeing 757 is a mid-size, narrow-body twin-engine jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Passenger versions of the twinjet have a capacity of 186 to 289 persons and a maximum range of , depending on variant and cabin configuration...
  
  , caused a total of 128 fatalities. The three other aircraft in the apron were destroyed. See 1990 People's Republic of China airliner collision
  1990 People's Republic of China airliner collision
  The Guangzhou Baiyun aircraft collision was the result of the hijacking of Xiamen Airlines Flight 8301. The hijacked aircraft collided with two others on the runways of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport on October 2, 1990 while attempting to land...
  
  .
• On June 6, 1994, China Northwest Airlines
  China Northwest Airlines
  China Northwest Airlines Co., Ltd. was an airline based in the People's Republic of China. It started operations in 1989. In 2002, the airline, along with China Yunnan Airlines merged with China Eastern Airlines....
  
   Flight 2303
  China Northwest Airlines Flight 2303
  China Northwest Airlines Flight 2303 was a domestic flight from Xian to Guangzhou, People's Republic of China. On June 6, 1994, this aircraft, a Tupolev Tu-154M, broke up in-flight and crashed as a result of an autopilot malfunction which caused violent shaking and overstressed the...
  
  broke up in mid-air and crashed near Xian, en route to Guangzhou from Xian. A maintenance error was responsible. All 160 people on board died.