It is located in Zhijiang Dong Autonomous County, 31 kilometers from the city center.

The airport was built in 1942 and was the second largest military airfield in the Far East for the Allies during World War II.

[1] During World War II, the airport was known as Chihkiang (Chih Kiang) Airfield (which is the Wade-Giles transcription of the same name) and was used by the United States Army Air Forces Fourteenth Air Force as part of the China Defensive Campaign (1942–1945).

[6] Chihkiang Air Base was also the headquarters of the Fourteenth Air Force Chinese-American Composite Wing (Provisional) (CACW), whose squadrons flew P-40 Warhawk aircraft.

The operational units of the CACW were jointly commanded by both American and Chinese air force officers, and the unit's aircraft were jointly manned by American and Chinese pilots and air crewmen.