We use a staggered difference-in-differences model to empirically investigate the relationship between airports and entrepreneurship, based on county airport data and the number of newly registered companies in China. The data has advantages in the long sample research framework from 2000 to 2019. We find that counties with airports have 14 more entrepreneurial opportunities per 10,000 people compared to samples without airports. The main conclusions still hold after conducting various robustness checks. We also find that airports have a spillover effect on entrepreneurship. A county without an airport still has higher entrepreneurship if there are more airports in the surrounding county-level city or province. Heterogeneity analysis shows that airports boost entrepreneurship more in service industries and other tertiary sectors. The effect is strongest in poorer regions and private firms and knowledge-intensive areas benefit more from airports for entrepreneurship. Finally, we find that airports increase entrepreneurial activity in a region by bringing in foreign investment, improving innovation, and upgrading industries.