Getting from Ordos Ejin Horo International Airport to the city

Four services, and the cheapest is not the useful one

• Ordos publishes three separate bus products and they are 26 times apart in price.
• Route 921, the airport coach to Dongsheng city terminal. 26 yuan, about 50 minutes. From the airport it runs 07:40, 08:40, 09:40, then every 40 minutes to 20:20, and the poster says departures after 20:20 are set by the actual arriving flights. Towards the airport it runs 05:00 to 20:50 from 38 Yijinhuoluo West Street in Dongsheng, 200 m east of the old railway station and opposite the People's Bank.
• Route 922, the airport to Ordos railway station. 5 yuan, about 20 minutes, and it is a two stop run. From the airport: 08:30, 10:30, 12:30, 14:30, 16:00, 18:00, 20:00, 22:00. From Ordos station: 09:30, 11:20, 13:30, 15:20, 17:00, 19:00, 21:00.
• City routes 901 and 902 cost 1 yuan. 901 runs T2 to the CBD through Ejin Horo with 14 stops, every 40 minutes, first bus from T2 07:00 and last 17:40. 902 runs from T1 to Kangbashi district government with 10 stops, every 40 minutes, first from T1 07:20 and last 17:35.

The two traps

• The buildings differ. The 921 coach and the 922 rail link both leave from the bus point on the T2 arrivals level, floor two. 901 also starts at T2, but 902 starts at T1. Reading only the route number will put you at the wrong door.
• The 1 yuan buses finish before six in the evening. Ordos handles flights well into the night; the city buses do not meet them. After 17:40 the choice is the 26 yuan coach to Dongsheng, the 5 yuan link to Ordos railway station until 22:00, or a taxi.

Paying for it

• The 921 ticket is a WeChat purchase: scan the green code on the vehicle, open the Keyun Tianxia mini programme, choose the Ordos airport to Dongsheng city terminal page, select adult or child, enter a mobile number, submit and pay.
• The 1 yuan city buses want the Tianjiaotong mini programme, which asks for a mobile number and an SMS verification code, or a physical Tianjiaotong citizen card obtainable in Dongsheng, Ejin Horo or Kangbashi. Every vehicle carries a card reader. Without a Chinese mobile number, neither flow completes.
• Enquiries on the coach: +86 477 8878099. City bus complaints: +86 152 4774 5744.

Taxis, and where the airport is

• The taxi rank is on level one of the terminal, on the south side of the public car park. Queue at the marked pick up point. The service supervision line is 12328.
• The airport is 16 km southeast of Kangbashi, at the junction of the Baomao expressway and the Ada highway, next to the Mausoleum of Genghis Khan. It opened on 26 July 2007 and the present terminal, 100,300 square metres, opened on 30 January 2013. The runway is 3,200 by 45 metres, rated 4E.

The free parking period depends on what the car burns

• Petrol and diesel cars: 30 cumulative free minutes within 24 hours. Stay 31 to 60 minutes and it is 5 yuan; every further hour adds 2 yuan; the 24 hour cap is 30 yuan.
• Battery electric cars: 120 free minutes, and the airport states the free period can be taken an unlimited number of times within 24 hours. From 121 to 180 minutes is 5 yuan, then 2 yuan per hour beyond three hours, same 30 yuan cap.
• 7 to 19 seat vehicles: 8 yuan for the first hour, 3 per hour after, 35 yuan cap. Over 19 seats: 10, 4 and 40. Motorcycles: free, then 2 yuan an hour. Goods vehicles pay the large vehicle tariff.
• Part hours are rounded up to a full hour and stays beyond 24 hours accumulate at the same rates.
• The car park is 31,552 square metres over two levels with 1,170 spaces, entered and left by numberplate recognition with no ticket. Service line +86 477 8878136.

You cannot hire a car here on a foreign licence

• Car hire at Ordos is run by the airport group's own transport company in partnership with Shenzhou. The published eligibility list for a foreign customer is: a valid Chinese driving licence past its probationary period, a passport, a residence permit if resident in China, and an international or domestic chip credit card with a limit of at least 1,000 US dollars.
• An overseas licence or an international driving permit is not on that list. If you do not hold a Chinese licence, self drive is not available from this airport.
• Minimum hire is one day and mileage is unlimited. The car is supplied full and must be returned full, or the desk refuels it and adds a 15 per cent handling charge. On return the rental pre authorisation is released and a 2,000 yuan traffic fine pre authorisation is taken instead, cleared about three working days after 30 days without a violation.

The zero carbon claim

• On 25 July 2026 a technical results conference at the terminal announced that Ordos Ejin Horo International Airport had become the first zero carbon airport in the world, built by the Peking University Ordos Energy Research Institute with the airport group and Shengyuan Energy on a wind, solar, storage, cooling, heat and power system using carbon dioxide as the working fluid.
• The published figures: clean energy above 90 per cent of supply, more than 21 million kWh of wind and solar consumed annually, heating and cooling energy consumption down 60 per cent, running costs down 50 per cent, more than two million cubic metres of natural gas saved a year, and an overall emissions reduction of 95.15 per cent with the remaining share offset, giving net carbon at or below zero.
• For context on the size of the place: in 2025 the airport ran 84 routes to 71 cities including eight international, and handled 3.2 million passengers. It has held a Skytrax four star rating since 2015.