Web Exclusive

Beijing’s new airport expects inaugural flight in 2017

By Yin Mingzhe (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-06-21 16:59

Beijing has drafted the timetable for the construction of its new airport and it is expected the inaugural flight will take off in October 2017, the Beijing Business Today reported Tuesday, citing an unnamed insider.

Related readings:  Beijing airport invites Kazuo Inamori as advisor  Smoking banned at Beijing airport  Beijing boasts world's second busiest airport  Beijing beefs up airport security

According to this insider, a new airport is urgently needed in Beijing as the Capital International Airport can not absorb more passengers. The new airport plans to include nine runways, eight of which will be for civil aviation while the remaining one will be for military purposes.

The location of this new airport will be at the Yufa and Lixian township, Daxing district, in the far south of Beijing, according to previous reports.

The first phase of the project will occupy an area of 55 square kilometers and have a carrying capacity of 400 million travelers per year. In addition the passengers will be able to reach downtown Beijing by express rail within half a hour, the newspaper reported.

An aviation industry analyst said the new airport will attract investment, and promote industrial development and infrastructure building in southern Beijing. The huge passenger carrying and cargo loading capacities of the airport will have a significant effect on the economic growth and accelerate the integration of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province.

The division of the functions between this new airport and the Capital International Airport has been under hot discussion. Rumors have it that one airport will target domestic flight services while the other will focus on international flights.

But Wang Jian, secretary-general of China Civil Airport Association, told reporters that it is more feasible to divided airline companies by airline alliances and assigned them to one of the two airports. .