China declares formal opening of huge new Beijing airport
25 September, 2019
Beijing's huge new airport, Daxing International, was formally opened by President Xi Jinping on Wednesday (Sep 25), ahead of the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China.
The starfish-shaped airport, located in the south of the capital, will help relieve pressure on the existing Capital International Airport in Beijing's northeast, where capacity constraints often cause flight delays.
Located 46km south of Tiananmen square, the new airport will operate at full capacity in 2025, with four runways and the potential to receive 72 million passengers per year.
By 2040 the hub is expected to have expanded to eight runways including one for military use, and will be able to welcome 100 million passengers per year - which will make it the world's largest single terminal in terms of traveller capacity, according to its designers.
Air transport is booming in China as living standards increase along with peoples' desire to travel. Indeed, it will pass the US to become the world's biggest aviation market by the mid-2020s, according to the International Air Transport Association.
The country will see 1.6 billion plane journeys each year from 2037 - a billion more than in 2017, the organisation estimates.
China's capital - with its 21 million people - expects to welcome 170 million passengers in 2025, split between the two airports.
100 FOOTBALL PITCHES
At 700,000 sq m - about the size of 100 football pitches - the new structure will be one of the world's largest airport terminals.
The building was designed by Anglo-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, who died in 2016, in conjunction with the engineering subsidiary of Aeroports de Paris.
Inside, it stands out for its flowing, curved lines and use of light that filters down to the lowest levels of the building through openings in the roof.
Underneath the terminal is a train station and metro line that will allow travellers to reach the city centre in 20 or so minutes.
The project cost 120 billion yuan (US$17.5 billion), or 400 billion yuan if rail and road links are included.