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An aerial view of Beijing Capital International Airport’s new T3, which open for testing next month (Photo: China Daily) |
CHINA. Beijing will open a second international airport by 2015, according to a senior official of the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC), quoted in a report in China Daily today.
The new facility will provide additional capacity alongside Beijing Capital International Airport. Beijing Capital Airport’s new Terminal Three will open for testing at the end of next month. It is designed to handle 76 million passengers and 1.8 million tons of cargo a year by 2015.
CAAC Deputy Minister Yang Guoqing said at a press conference: “The location of the second airport has not been decided, because choosing the right location is a very complicated matter,” he said.
The economic development strategy of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area and the pattern of passenger and cargo flow have to be considered, he said. In addition, the new airport should not come into conflict with existing facilities in Beijing and Tianjin in terms of air space.
The CAAC is currently conducting a study of several world cities that have two or more airports, including New York and Shanghai, to help it decide on the best location, Yang said.
This is the first time that a senior CAAC official has spoken about the plan to build a second international airport.
The proposal for the new facility first emerged in 2002, after Beijing won the rights to host the 2008 Olympic Games.
In order to deal with the high passenger flow during the Games, the Beijing municipal government and the CAAC suggested expanding Capital Airport. Authorities in Tianjin municipality and Hebei province proposed the development of a new airport within their regions as an alternative solution.
The central government decided in 2003 on the expansion of Capital Airport, which is now in its final phase.
Billed as the largest and most advanced terminal in the country, the 986,000sq m T3 cost 27 billion Yuan (US$3.75 billion). The investment is expected to be recovered within 12 years.
Two areas of the terminal – T3C and T3E – have been completed and passed system tests last year.
National Development and Reform Commission Deputy Minister Zhang Guobao, who is also Chief Commander of the airport expansion project, said the first batch of six airlines will move into T3 on 29 February. These include two domestic carriers and four foreign ones. A second batch of 26 airlines, including Air China and 11 Star Alliance members, will move in on 26 March.
A third section of the terminal, T3D, is still undergoing interior work and will be completed in May, according to officials. This is because work on T3D started two years after T3C and T3E, explained the project’s Chief Designer Ding Jiangang.
On completion, T3D will receive foreign athletes and officials who arrive in charter flights during the Olympics. These visitors account for at least 65% of the total number of foreign guests, said Capital Airports Holding Co President Zhang Zhizhong.
Beijing Capital International Airport was built in 1959 and expanded in 1999. Although designed to receive 35 million passengers a year, official figures indicate that it received more than 52 million last year, with projections of 66 million in 2008.
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