Civil Aviation Museum

民航博物馆
Civil Aviation Museum

Address: No 200 Capital Airport Side Road, Chaoyang district, Beijing
Opening hours: 9 am-4:30 pm (last entry 4 pm)
Closed Mondays (except for national holidays)
General administration: Free (valid identification required)
Tel: (86-10) 84323666

The Civil Aviation Museum, affiliated to the Civil Aviation Administration of China, is a specialized museum dedicated to civil aviation. Located near Beijing Capital Airport, the museum covers an area of approximately 89.07 hectares, with a total construction area of 26,813 square meters. Its main building, designed in the unique shape of an aircraft engine, spans 15,924 square meters, making it a striking piece of modern architecture.

The museum serves as an exhibition hall, science education base and leisure activity center. In addition to three auditoriums, it also houses a science interaction zone that provides flight simulators of the Airbus A320, Cirrus aircrafts and Dreamliner.

The permanent exhibitions consist of indoor and outdoor sections. The indoor exhibition, titled Soaring to New Heights: The Development of Civil Aviation in New China, comprehensively showcases the remarkable history and achievements of China's civil aviation since 1949. The outdoor exhibition area displays various models of civil aircraft.

The museum is remarkable for its collection of over 30,000 items that reflect the unique characteristics of the civil aviation industry. The aircraft collection includes 20 planes and helicopters from different periods of China's civil aviation history, such as the Li-2, BAe-146, Il-14, Trident, Y-7 and Airbus A310-200, covering key models throughout the evolution of global civil aircraft. Among them, the Il-14 (No 4208) aircraft, which once served as the special plane of Chairman Mao Zedong (1893-1976), is a national first-class cultural relic.

The museum also holds instruments and equipment used in air traffic management, airport operations, and aircraft maintenance, as well as civil aviation uniforms and accessories. Additionally, it features valuable artifacts related to significant historical events, including the Uprising of the "Two Airlines", the "August 1st" (Ba Yi) inaugural flight, and the test flight to Lhasa.