Objective The experimental study on the lift-up speed of a new kind of compliant aerodynamic foil thrust bearings was performed on the multifunctional test rig established for testing the performances of foil gas bearings. Methods The lift-up speed of foil gas thrust bearing under given axial load was analyzed through the spectrum of axial displacement response in frequency domain. Results The test results indicated that the difference in the spectrum of axial displacement responses before and after lifting up of the rotor was obvious. After lifting up of the rotor, there were only larger components of rotation frequency and lower harmanic frequencies. If the rotor wasnt lift-up, there were also larger components of other frequencies in the spectrum. Conclusion So by analyzing the spectrum of axial displacement response, the results showed that the lift-up speed was about 1 860 rpm when the axial load was 31N.