With the facade construction of the Beijing Daxing International Airport terminal and 80 percent of its internal decoration and equipment installation finished, the flight check in the flight area will start this month, an official of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform said at a press conference Thursday.
According to the government's briefing at the press conference, the airport covers a total area of 40,500 mu (1 mu = 0.067 hectares), including 23,500 mu in Beijing and 17,000 mu in Hebei province. With a total investment of 80 billion yuan (US$11.65 billion), the airport will be put into operation by the end of September. Four runways will be constructed to meet three design targets for 2025: a passenger throughput of 72 million people, a cargo throughput of 2 million tons, and a take-off and landing capacity of 620,000 aircrafts.
With the main terminal, the supporting service building, and the parking building covering about 1.4 million square meters, the terminal complex has the world's largest throughput capacity for a single airport terminal.
With five airside concourses extending from the main terminal, passengers will walk no longer than 600 meters from the center to the farthest boarding gate, which will take no more than eight minutes.
In terms of transportation to the airport, the New Airport Express to be put into use this September will connect the city's downtown area and the rapid rail transit line of the airport. To facilitate the railway transportation in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, an intercity railway to be commissioned in the same month will connect the airport and Xiongan New Area, and the original railway linking two cities in Hebei province will be upgraded into an intercity railway linking the two international airports in Beijing through Langfang city, Hebei province.
Moreover, a highway will be built to connect the downtown area and the airport, and the highway to the north of the airport will connect with other highways to facilitate the transportation in the region. Both highways will be commissioned in June.
There will be six highways around the airport in total, and 22 highway lanes will link the downtown area and the airport. The highway loop around the airport will connect with major cities in the region and alleviate traffic congestion.
In addition, local authorities in Beijing and Hebei have plans for an international airport economic zone, aiming to provide supporting facilities to open alongside the airport.
With the main project to be completed on June 30, the airport will be open to air traffic before Sept. 30.
According to the press briefing, the passenger throughput of the existing Beijing Capital International Airport exceeded 100 million in 2018, putting it in an overloaded state. The Daxing International Airport will not only further expand and improve the layout of the global airline network, but also help relocate non-capital functions, promote balanced development of the city, and accelerate the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei.
