diff --git a/src/runtime/Makefile b/src/runtime/Makefile
index fa07b87deb..b05106318b 100644
--- a/src/runtime/Makefile
+++ b/src/runtime/Makefile
@@ -253,6 +253,7 @@ ifneq (,$(QEMUCMD))
 
     # qemu-specific options (all should be suffixed by "_QEMU")
     DEFBLOCKSTORAGEDRIVER_QEMU := virtio-scsi
+    DEFBLOCKDEVICEAIO_QEMU := io_uring
     DEFNETWORKMODEL_QEMU := tcfilter
     KERNELTYPE = uncompressed
     KERNELNAME = $(call MAKE_KERNEL_NAME,$(KERNELTYPE))
@@ -458,6 +459,7 @@ USER_VARS += DEFDISABLEBLOCK
 USER_VARS += DEFBLOCKSTORAGEDRIVER_ACRN
 USER_VARS += DEFBLOCKSTORAGEDRIVER_FC
 USER_VARS += DEFBLOCKSTORAGEDRIVER_QEMU
+USER_VARS += DEFBLOCKDEVICEAIO_QEMU
 USER_VARS += DEFSHAREDFS_CLH_VIRTIOFS
 USER_VARS += DEFSHAREDFS_QEMU_VIRTIOFS
 USER_VARS += DEFVIRTIOFSDAEMON
diff --git a/src/runtime/config/configuration-qemu.toml.in b/src/runtime/config/configuration-qemu.toml.in
index 3ec44c8b6e..d0a711dcfe 100644
--- a/src/runtime/config/configuration-qemu.toml.in
+++ b/src/runtime/config/configuration-qemu.toml.in
@@ -208,6 +208,20 @@ virtio_fs_cache = "@DEFVIRTIOFSCACHE@"
 # or nvdimm.
 block_device_driver = "@DEFBLOCKSTORAGEDRIVER_QEMU@"
 
+# aio is the I/O mechanism used by qemu
+# Options:
+#
+#   - threads
+#     Pthread based disk I/O.
+#
+#   - native
+#     Native Linux I/O.
+#
+#   - io_uring
+#     Linux io_uring API. This provides the fastest I/O operations on Linux, requires kernel>5.1 and
+#     qemu >=5.0.
+block_device_aio = "@DEFBLOCKDEVICEAIO_QEMU@"
+
 # Specifies cache-related options will be set to block devices or not.
 # Default false
 #block_device_cache_set = true
diff --git a/src/runtime/pkg/device/config/config.go b/src/runtime/pkg/device/config/config.go
index 61f9236b9c..a11c52f75c 100644
--- a/src/runtime/pkg/device/config/config.go
+++ b/src/runtime/pkg/device/config/config.go
@@ -61,6 +61,17 @@ const (
 	Nvdimm = "nvdimm"
 )
 
+const (
+	// AIOThreads is the pthread asynchronous I/O implementation.
+	AIOThreads = "threads"
+
+	// AIONative is the native Linux AIO implementation
+	AIONative = "native"
+
+	// AIOUring is the Linux io_uring I/O implementation
+	AIOIOUring = "io_uring"
+)
+
 const (
 	// Virtio9P means use virtio-9p for the shared file system
 	Virtio9P = "virtio-9p"
diff --git a/src/runtime/pkg/katatestutils/utils.go b/src/runtime/pkg/katatestutils/utils.go
index 5676f4451c..2aa0754cac 100644
--- a/src/runtime/pkg/katatestutils/utils.go
+++ b/src/runtime/pkg/katatestutils/utils.go
@@ -216,6 +216,7 @@ type RuntimeConfigOptions struct {
 	ShimPath             string
 	LogPath              string
 	BlockDeviceDriver    string
+	BlockDeviceAIO       string
 	SharedFS             string
 	VirtioFSDaemon       string
 	JaegerEndpoint       string
@@ -305,6 +306,7 @@ func MakeRuntimeConfigFileData(config RuntimeConfigOptions) string {
 	path = "` + config.HypervisorPath + `"
 	kernel = "` + config.KernelPath + `"
 	block_device_driver =  "` + config.BlockDeviceDriver + `"
+	block_device_aio =  "` + config.BlockDeviceAIO + `"
 	kernel_params = "` + config.KernelParams + `"
 	image = "` + config.ImagePath + `"
 	machine_type = "` + config.MachineType + `"
diff --git a/src/runtime/pkg/katautils/config-settings.go.in b/src/runtime/pkg/katautils/config-settings.go.in
index 2aad22bd85..37dbfee45a 100644
--- a/src/runtime/pkg/katautils/config-settings.go.in
+++ b/src/runtime/pkg/katautils/config-settings.go.in
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ const defaultBridgesCount uint32 = 1
 const defaultInterNetworkingModel = "tcfilter"
 const defaultDisableBlockDeviceUse bool = false
 const defaultBlockDeviceDriver = "virtio-scsi"
+const defaultBlockDeviceAIO string = "io_uring"
 const defaultBlockDeviceCacheSet bool = false
 const defaultBlockDeviceCacheDirect bool = false
 const defaultBlockDeviceCacheNoflush bool = false
diff --git a/src/runtime/pkg/katautils/config.go b/src/runtime/pkg/katautils/config.go
index 0903c8ea9e..6147e2738c 100644
--- a/src/runtime/pkg/katautils/config.go
+++ b/src/runtime/pkg/katautils/config.go
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ type hypervisor struct {
 	GuestHookPath                  string   `toml:"guest_hook_path"`
 	GuestMemoryDumpPath            string   `toml:"guest_memory_dump_path"`
 	SeccompSandbox                 string   `toml:"seccompsandbox"`
+	BlockDeviceAIO                 string   `toml:"block_device_aio"`
 	HypervisorPathList             []string `toml:"valid_hypervisor_paths"`
 	JailerPathList                 []string `toml:"valid_jailer_paths"`
 	CtlPathList                    []string `toml:"valid_ctlpaths"`
@@ -468,6 +469,22 @@ func (h hypervisor) blockDeviceDriver() (string, error) {
 	return "", fmt.Errorf("Invalid hypervisor block storage driver %v specified (supported drivers: %v)", h.BlockDeviceDriver, supportedBlockDrivers)
 }
 
+func (h hypervisor) blockDeviceAIO() (string, error) {
+	supportedBlockAIO := []string{config.AIOIOUring, config.AIONative, config.AIOThreads}
+
+	if h.BlockDeviceAIO == "" {
+		return defaultBlockDeviceAIO, nil
+	}
+
+	for _, b := range supportedBlockAIO {
+		if b == h.BlockDeviceAIO {
+			return h.BlockDeviceAIO, nil
+		}
+	}
+
+	return "", fmt.Errorf("Invalid hypervisor block storage I/O mechanism  %v specified (supported AIO: %v)", h.BlockDeviceAIO, supportedBlockAIO)
+}
+
 func (h hypervisor) sharedFS() (string, error) {
 	supportedSharedFS := []string{config.Virtio9P, config.VirtioFS, config.VirtioFSNydus}
 
@@ -727,6 +744,11 @@ func newQemuHypervisorConfig(h hypervisor) (vc.HypervisorConfig, error) {
 		return vc.HypervisorConfig{}, err
 	}
 
+	blockAIO, err := h.blockDeviceAIO()
+	if err != nil {
+		return vc.HypervisorConfig{}, err
+	}
+
 	sharedFS, err := h.sharedFS()
 	if err != nil {
 		return vc.HypervisorConfig{}, err
@@ -783,6 +805,7 @@ func newQemuHypervisorConfig(h hypervisor) (vc.HypervisorConfig, error) {
 		Debug:                   h.Debug,
 		DisableNestingChecks:    h.DisableNestingChecks,
 		BlockDeviceDriver:       blockDriver,
+		BlockDeviceAIO:          blockAIO,
 		BlockDeviceCacheSet:     h.BlockDeviceCacheSet,
 		BlockDeviceCacheDirect:  h.BlockDeviceCacheDirect,
 		BlockDeviceCacheNoflush: h.BlockDeviceCacheNoflush,
@@ -1154,6 +1177,7 @@ func GetDefaultHypervisorConfig() vc.HypervisorConfig {
 		Debug:                   defaultEnableDebug,
 		DisableNestingChecks:    defaultDisableNestingChecks,
 		BlockDeviceDriver:       defaultBlockDeviceDriver,
+		BlockDeviceAIO:          defaultBlockDeviceAIO,
 		BlockDeviceCacheSet:     defaultBlockDeviceCacheSet,
 		BlockDeviceCacheDirect:  defaultBlockDeviceCacheDirect,
 		BlockDeviceCacheNoflush: defaultBlockDeviceCacheNoflush,
diff --git a/src/runtime/pkg/katautils/config_test.go b/src/runtime/pkg/katautils/config_test.go
index 86619ab13d..5e493b40e3 100644
--- a/src/runtime/pkg/katautils/config_test.go
+++ b/src/runtime/pkg/katautils/config_test.go
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ func createAllRuntimeConfigFiles(dir, hypervisor string) (config testRuntimeConf
 	machineType := "machineType"
 	disableBlockDevice := true
 	blockDeviceDriver := "virtio-scsi"
+	blockDeviceAIO := "io_uring"
 	enableIOThreads := true
 	hotplugVFIOOnRootBus := true
 	pcieRootPort := uint32(2)
@@ -99,6 +100,7 @@ func createAllRuntimeConfigFiles(dir, hypervisor string) (config testRuntimeConf
 		DefaultGuestHookPath: defaultGuestHookPath,
 		DisableBlock:         disableBlockDevice,
 		BlockDeviceDriver:    blockDeviceDriver,
+		BlockDeviceAIO:       blockDeviceAIO,
 		EnableIOThreads:      enableIOThreads,
 		HotplugVFIOOnRootBus: hotplugVFIOOnRootBus,
 		PCIeRootPort:         pcieRootPort,
@@ -159,6 +161,7 @@ func createAllRuntimeConfigFiles(dir, hypervisor string) (config testRuntimeConf
 		DefaultMaxMemorySize:  maxMemory,
 		DisableBlockDeviceUse: disableBlockDevice,
 		BlockDeviceDriver:     defaultBlockDeviceDriver,
+		BlockDeviceAIO:        defaultBlockDeviceAIO,
 		DefaultBridges:        defaultBridgesCount,
 		EnableIOThreads:       enableIOThreads,
 		HotplugVFIOOnRootBus:  hotplugVFIOOnRootBus,
@@ -550,6 +553,7 @@ func TestMinimalRuntimeConfig(t *testing.T) {
 		GuestHookPath:         defaultGuestHookPath,
 		VhostUserStorePath:    defaultVhostUserStorePath,
 		VirtioFSCache:         defaultVirtioFSCacheMode,
+		BlockDeviceAIO:        defaultBlockDeviceAIO,
 	}
 
 	expectedAgentConfig := vc.KataAgentConfig{
@@ -593,6 +597,7 @@ func TestNewQemuHypervisorConfig(t *testing.T) {
 	hotplugVFIOOnRootBus := true
 	pcieRootPort := uint32(2)
 	orgVHostVSockDevicePath := utils.VHostVSockDevicePath
+	blockDeviceAIO := "io_uring"
 	defer func() {
 		utils.VHostVSockDevicePath = orgVHostVSockDevicePath
 	}()
@@ -614,6 +619,7 @@ func TestNewQemuHypervisorConfig(t *testing.T) {
 		TxRateLimiterMaxRate:  txRateLimiterMaxRate,
 		SharedFS:              "virtio-fs",
 		VirtioFSDaemon:        filepath.Join(dir, "virtiofsd"),
+		BlockDeviceAIO:        blockDeviceAIO,
 	}
 
 	files := []string{hypervisorPath, kernelPath, imagePath}
@@ -674,6 +680,11 @@ func TestNewQemuHypervisorConfig(t *testing.T) {
 	if config.TxRateLimiterMaxRate != txRateLimiterMaxRate {
 		t.Errorf("Expected value for tx rate limiter %v, got %v", txRateLimiterMaxRate, config.TxRateLimiterMaxRate)
 	}
+
+	if config.BlockDeviceAIO != blockDeviceAIO {
+		t.Errorf("Expected value for BlockDeviceAIO  %v, got %v", blockDeviceAIO, config.BlockDeviceAIO)
+	}
+
 }
 
 func TestNewFirecrackerHypervisorConfig(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/src/runtime/virtcontainers/hypervisor.go b/src/runtime/virtcontainers/hypervisor.go
index 48eda09778..6f549454ed 100644
--- a/src/runtime/virtcontainers/hypervisor.go
+++ b/src/runtime/virtcontainers/hypervisor.go
@@ -371,6 +371,9 @@ type HypervisorConfig struct {
 	// SeccompSandbox is the qemu function which enables the seccomp feature
 	SeccompSandbox string
 
+	// BlockiDeviceAIO specifies the I/O API to be used.
+	BlockDeviceAIO string
+
 	// KernelParams are additional guest kernel parameters.
 	KernelParams []Param