Blue skies ahead
Updated: 2008-06-13 18:16
Sara Thorley was very excited one and a half years ago when she received the offer to become British Airways' manager of China.
"What an opportunity! In the next two years, the Olympic Games, the World Expo and the new airport terminals. From an airline perspective, these are all fascinating news," Thorley recalls.
Thorley's experience in China didn't fail to meet her expectations.
British Airways in February launched the first international flight out of the Terminal 3 of the Beijing Capital International Airport. The new terminal, with floor space of 986,000 sq m, is bigger than all five Heathrow terminals combined. As one of the world's largest terminal building complexes, the terminal serves as Beijing's new international gateway to the skies.
Less than one month later, British Airways became one of the first international airlines to use the Terminal 2 of Shanghai Pudong International Airport. The new terminal has a combined floor space of 546,000 sq m. Shanghai built the new terminal to cater to the continuous growth of passenger and cargo flows in and out of the most populous city on China's east coast.
"The two airports are definitely a great stepping stone to make sure that there is sufficient services to cope with the fast growing air transport in China," Thorley says.
The new terminals in Beijing and Shanghai are just part of China's massive airport construction wave. As one of the world's fastest growing commercial aviation markets, China has launched an unprecedented airport infrastructure building campaign to cope with double digit annual growth in both passenger and cargo air transportation.
The country is upgrading the mega airports in Beijing and Shanghai to expand them into international air transport hubs within the next five years. China is also trying to increase traffic at regional airports and spur local economies in those regions by subsidizing small airports in less developed areas.
"China is a fascinating country full of energy. If I could put that energy into a bottle, I would be a millionaire," Thorley says.
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