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Airshow China 2026: the dates almost every English listing gets wrong

China's only full-scale international airshow, 30th anniversary edition — 7–13 December 2026 in Zhuhai, not the November dates still published across the English web.

Read this first. Airshow China 2026 runs 7–13 December 2026. Most English-language trade-show directories still list 10–15 November — that is the show's historic slot, and it is wrong for this edition. The organisers announced the December dates on 24 July 2026, and both the Chinese and English versions of the official site now carry them. If you are booking flights off a listing site, check the date against airshow.com.cn before you pay for anything.

What it is

Airshow China is the country's only full-scale international aerospace exhibition — the show where Chinese military and commercial aircraft are unveiled, and where the western primes still take stands. This is the 30th-anniversary edition (the show was founded in 1996 and has run fifteen times). As of the July announcement the organisers had confirmed over 1,100 companies from 18 countries and regions and more than 120,000 m² of indoor exhibition space, with Boeing, Airbus, Safran, CFM, GE and Rolls-Royce among the named exhibitors. For scale, the 2024 edition drew 1,022 exhibitors from 47 countries, put 261 aircraft on the ground and counted roughly 240,000 trade visits.

No 2026 flying-display programme has been published, and no aerobatic team participation is confirmed. Anyone telling you otherwise is guessing.

Public days: not announced yet

The show splits into professional (trade) days and public days, and the split for 2026 has not been published. Do not rely on the common English claim that "the first three days are trade and the last three are public" — that describes 2024, and this edition is seven days long rather than six.

For reference, 2024 ran trade days 12–14 November and public days 15–17 November, 09:00–17:00 daily. We will update this page when the 2026 split is announced; based on 2024, expect it around mid-October.

How a foreign visitor gets in

The mechanics below held in 2024 and are expected to repeat, but are not yet re-confirmed for this edition.

2024 prices, for budgeting only: general admission to the exhibition centre was ¥500, concessions ¥350, with bundles at ¥650–800. 2026 prices are unannounced.

If you want a hand with the booking mechanics once tickets open, message us on WhatsApp — we are an English-speaking team in China and this is exactly the kind of WeChat-only checkout we help people through.

Getting there

The venue sits next to Zhuhai Jinwan Airport (ZUH) in Jinwan District, well outside the city. In 2024 the cleanest approach was the Zhuhai–Jinwan intercity railway to Zhuhai Airport station, out of Exit 3 and on foot to Gate 1. Zhuhai is also the mainland end of the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge, so the show is reachable as a day trip from Hong Kong or Macau, and Zhuhai's main station at Gongbei sits on the Macau border. Dedicated shuttle buses and intercity airshow coaches ran from eight Pearl River Delta cities in 2024; assume something similar and re-check in November.

Status: Dates announced by the organisers on 24 July 2026. This edition runs seven days, against six in 2024, so the trade/public day split cannot be assumed from precedent. Dates and venue are confirmed. Which days are trade-only and which are open to the public has not been announced, and tickets are not on sale — the organisers said prices would be published later. Everything below marked 2024 is precedent, not a 2026 commitment. Source: the organisers' official site airshow.com.cn (Chinese and English homepages both state 7–13 December 2026), the 24 July 2026 announcement carried by CCTV and the Zhuhai municipal press, and Guangdong provincial government guidance from the 2024 edition for the mechanics marked as precedent · checked 2026-08-22

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