A site was selected, about two km (1.2 mi) from the center of Lanzhou, by the Eurasia Aviation Corporation, and the airport opened in the early 1930s.

[2] The airport was also an important landing site for Soviet aircraft sending aid to China during the war, and Chinese fighter ace and war hero Gao Zhihang led his pilots of the 4th Pursuit Group in November 1937 to receive new Polikarpov I-16 fighter here, and leading the group back to the eastern front to resume combat operations against the imperial Japanese approach to Nanjing .

[2] In 1937, a transport plane (number 1602) carrying 38 people crash landed without casualties at Gongxingdun Airport.

However smog and tall buildings complicated landing at the airport, which required pilot aids to be added.

[7] Somewhere in the next decades the airport was demolished, however the PLA Air Force still owns the site in Jiaojiawan subdistrict, which is now used for staff housing and offices.