To explore the impact of working contact airway on the distribution of the “three zones” of spontaneous combustion in goaf, a physical model was constructed at the 18505 fully-mechanized coal mining face of a mine in Shanxi Province, China, using Fluent numerical simulation methods at six different distances between the working contact airway and the face. The numerical simulation was conducted to analyze and study the changes in the leakage airflow field and distribution of the “three zones” of spontaneous combustion in goaf under different positions of the working contact airway. The results showed that with the increase of the distance between the working contact airway and the face, the leakage airflow field in the goaf changed from a source-sink to a source-two sinks. The wind speed in the intake airway and the middle section of the face showed a non-linear decreasing trend, while the leakage wind speed on the return airway side of the face showed a trend of decreasing and then increasing before decreasing again. The width of the cooling zone on the return airway side of the face increased by about 2.7 times, while the increase in width for the middle section and intake airway side of the face were no more than 75m. The width of the oxidation and heating zone in the middle section and intake airway side of the goaf showed an increasing trend, with the maximum width in the middle section reaching 199m. The width of the oxidation and heating zone on the return airway side of the goaf showed a decreasing trend, with the width decreasing by about 0.5 times. These findings can provide guidance for the prevention and control of coal spontaneous combustion in similar working faces.