The move to Beijing’s new Daxing International Airport is ramping up after China Eastern and China Southern last week received approval to proceed with plans to build bases at the mega-project.
Chinas’s National Development and Resource Commission approved a China Southern plan for a 14.8-billion yuan ($US2.15 billion) base for China Southern and a 13.2-billion yuan facility for China Eastern.
The airlines will each fund about 30 per cent of the construction costs with the rest coming from domestic bank loans.
The first phase of the $US12-billion airport, some 30 miles (46kms) south of Beijing’s city centre, is scheduled for completion in of 2019 and the Chinese say it will be the world’s biggest in terms of surface area.
The first phase of the airport will serve 45 million passengers annually on four runways with capacity through two stages rising to 100 million passengers a year using up to seven runways.
Both Shanghai’s China Eastern and Guangzhou-based china Southern will relocate to the new airport while Beijing-based Air China will remain at Beijing Capital International Airport.
The new airport will be connected by high-speed rail to Beijing as well as to the nearby cities of Hebei and Tianjin. It is expected to take about 30 minutes to get from the airport to central Beijing.
Airport developers ADPI and British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid created a starfish design with six piers they say will be more efficient and economical to operate, improve connectivity and give a better passenger experience.
“Given the terminal’s compact design, the distance between the terminal centre and the farthest boarding gate is around 650 yards, less than Asian and European terminals with similar capacity,’’ ADPI says on its website. “Passengers can easily find their way within the open interior layout of the terminal, gravitating naturally to the grand skylight central area where shops and services are located, and then walking straight ahead to their gate.’’
Beijing Capital airport has become increasingly crowded as air traffic in China has exploded with an expanding middle class and increased leisure time.
The need to improve aviation infrastructure has seen China plan to the increase the number of civil airports by at least 50 in a five-year economic plan released late last year.
As well as new Beijing airport, it is also looking at clusters of world-class airports in Yangtze River and Pearl River Deltas.
It also wants to speed up construction of international aviation hubs in Harbin, Shenzhen, Kunming, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi’an, Ürümqi, and other cities.
