China's main international airports are located in Beijing (Capital International Airport), Shanghai (Hong Quiao International Airport and Pudong International Airport) and Hong Kong (Hong Kong International Airport). The majority of visitors to China enter via one of these airports. A number of other cities throughout the country also have international airports.

The national airline is Air China (Civil Aviation Administration of China), which also owns Dragon Air, and operates jointly with Cathay Pacific. There are a number of other Chinese airlines including China Eastern, China Southern, China Northern, Great Wall and Yunnan Airlines.

A large number of other national airlines fly into China from Europe, North America and Asia. These include Air France, Air Canada, Finnair, Japan Airlines, KLM, Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines (MH), Quantas, Singapore Airlines, Swissair, United Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic.

Approximate flight times to Hong Kong are 13 hours from London, 14 hours from Los Angeles and 17 hours from New York. Flight times to Beijing are around 10 hours from London, 22 hours from New York, 12 hours from Los Angeles and 12 hours from Sydney.