On August 29, 2026, the Chongqing Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervisory Commission announced that Dai Ke, a former first-level specialist of Chongqing Airport Group Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Chongqing Airport Group"), is suspected of serious violations of discipline and law and is currently under disciplinary review and supervisory investigation. Dai Ke, born in September 1965, assumed the role of Chairman of the group in February 2022, relinquishing the chairmanship in October 2024 to take up the position of first-level specialist, which refers to a job grade. The first-level specialist corresponds to the top executive of a Chongqing state-owned enterprise, equivalent to the chairman or general manager level, while the second-level specialist corresponds to deputy general manager, chief engineer, or chief accountant levels within these enterprises.

Dai Ke is the second former chairman of Chongqing Airport Group to be implicated in corruption cases. On April 1, 2026, the Chongqing discipline watchdog announced that Zhao Jiangping, a previous chairman of the airport group, was under investigation for suspected disciplinary and legal violations. As a key municipal state-owned enterprise under the administration of the Chongqing State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the group has witnessed six additional former executives at the deputy general manager level being detained between February 2025 and the present, according to public records.

Two successive chairmen implicated

Zhao Jiangping was once Dai Ke's superior. In November 2003, the Civil Aviation Administration of Chongqing was dissolved and restructured into Chongqing Airport Group, with Zhao Jiangping, the former head of the civil aviation administration, becoming its founding chairman and general manager, a role he held until his retirement in October 2016. During Zhao's tenure as the top leader, Dai Ke was appointed as a party committee member and deputy general manager of the group in April 2004. When Zhao stepped down in October 2016, Dai Ke succeeded him as general manager, while Tan Pingchuan took over as chairman at that time.

A retired employee of the group, who worked alongside both Zhao and Dai for years, revealed that Zhao had previously worked in the airport's telephone maintenance unit, climbing poles to repair external lines, a physically demanding job. In the 1980s, there were 21 overhead telephone lines connecting Baishiyi Airport (situated in Baishiyi Town, Jiulongpo District, Chongqing) with the city center, which frequently snapped due to wind damage. The diligent and resilient young Zhao earned recognition from his superiors and gradually rose through the ranks, eventually becoming the airport group's first chairman. The same retired employee noted that Dai Ke, who holds a physics degree, was recruited from Southwest Normal College (later renamed Southwest Normal University, now known as Southwest University). In 1997, Dai was transferred to the expansion headquarters of Chongqing Jiangbei Airport as a deputy commander, later advancing to commander, a position he held until assuming the general manager role in 2016, overseeing the airport expansion projects.

Public details indicate that Zhao, a veteran in the civil aviation sector with an extensive career in the system, presided over the completion of the second runway, Terminal 2, and the eastern terminal area expansions during his leadership. The airport progressively gained the capability for direct flights to Europe, Australia, and the Americas, with group assets growing from 500 million yuan to 3 billion yuan, and passenger throughput ranking among the nation's top ten. According to the group's official WeChat account, on June 2, 2015, Zhao, born in the 1950s, stepped down as general manager upon reaching the age limit, with Tan Pingchuan assuming the role, and the group's legal representative was officially changed to Tan on June 9 that year. A year later, Tan took over as party secretary and chairman, and Zhao exited entirely. Dai Ke became general manager in October 2016 and only achieved the top position in February 2022, concurrently serving as both chairman and general manager. By the time the Chongqing discipline authorities declared an investigation into him, Dai had already retired.

Based on compiled public information, the tenures of both men spanned the major expansion projects at Chongqing Jiangbei Airport, which involved substantial investments. The second-phase expansion (2001–2005) totaled 1.61 billion yuan, constructing the 70,000-square-meter Terminal 2B and raising annual passenger handling capacity to 7 million. The third phase (2008–2010) invested 3.458 billion yuan, building Terminal 2A and a second 3,600-meter runway, ushering the airport into the dual-runway era. The fourth phase, with a planned total investment of approximately 21.6 billion yuan, was slated to include a fourth runway and Terminal 3B, though these elements were later integrated into the fifth phase following plan adjustments. The fifth-phase expansion, with an investment of about 22.5 billion yuan, commenced in November 2020, saw the fourth runway operational by the end of 2024, and the Terminal 3B completed and commissioned in 2025, enabling an annual passenger throughput of 80 million.

Six deputy general managers detained

Starting in February 2025 and continuing into the present, six former deputy general manager-level executives from the group have been taken into custody. In chronological order of official announcements, they are Jia Chaoxuan, Xiong Dezhi, Chen Shiqin, Li Guangcai, Pei Mingxue, and Zhang Mingjin.

Jia Chaoxuan, a former deputy general manager of the group who oversaw engineering projects and later held the second-level specialist post, was apprehended on February 19, 2025, and has since been expelled from both the party and public office, with his case transferred to judicial authorities. In September 2025, the Chongqing discipline commission detailed that Jia had "degenerated morally, engaged in large-scale transfer of benefits, and exploited his position to profit others in project contracting and business operations while illegally accepting enormous sums of money."

Xiong Dezhi, who served as a party committee member and deputy general manager of the group and was investigated while still in office, was also taken into custody on February 19, 2025, subsequently expelled and referred for prosecution. In September 2025, the commission stated: "Xiong Dezhi illegally profited in staff recruitment matters and accepted bribes, failed to truthfully explain issues during organizational inquiries, crossed integrity boundaries by engaging in profit-driven activities, distorted his view of power by turning public authority into a tool for personal gain, and engaged in pervasive power-money exchanges, profiting others in staff recruitment and business operations while illegally accepting massive bribes."

Chen Shiqin, a former deputy general manager responsible for operations and finance, who later served as a second-level specialist, was investigated on July 9, 2025. Li Guangcai, a former deputy general manager and chief financial officer, also a second-level specialist later, who oversaw financial funds allocation over a long period, was investigated on the same day.

Zhang Mingjin, a former party committee member and deputy general manager in charge of engineering projects and equipment procurement, was placed under investigation in September 2025 and, by June 2026, was declared expelled from the party and dismissed from public office, with the case forwarded for prosecution. The commission's notice read: "Zhang Mingjin lost his ideals and convictions, betrayed his original mission, was disloyal and dishonest to the party, failed to implement rectification requirements from inspections, resisted organizational review, disregarded the central eight-point regulations by illegally receiving gifts and accepting banquets that could compromise his impartial duty, improperly intervened in and meddled with project contracting, and, driven by greed, exploited his authority to benefit others in engineering contracting and equipment sales while illegally accepting immense sums of money."

Pei Mingxue, another former party committee member and deputy general manager, was publicly expelled from the party in April 2026 and referred to judicial authorities, marking the exposure of a case against someone who had left the company years earlier. On April 28, 2026, the commission reported: "Pei Mingxue lost his ideals and convictions, abandoned his original mission, disregarded the central eight-point regulations by improperly accepting banquets and gifts, violated organizational principles by profiting from staff recruitment, crossed integrity boundaries by taking paid positions in enterprises with business ties to his former employer after leaving and obtaining substantial returns through private lending, and, with unchecked desires, used his position or the influence of his former office as a retired state functionary to benefit others in engineering contracting and business operations while illegally accepting massive bribes."

With this, the group has now seen two chairmen and six deputy general managers fall in the anti-corruption campaign. By late August 2026, a prominent criminal defense lawyer in Chongqing told reporters that family members of two of the detained deputy general managers had approached him for legal assistance, as both individuals face charges of suspected bribery. Subsequent coverage will continue to track these developments.