China will open its new Daxing mega-airport project in Beijing ahead of the 70th founding anniversary of the People's Republic.
According to Chinese state media, the first commercial flight will take off from the Beijing Daxing International Airport around September 20 and its main airline China Southern plans to deploy an Airbus A380, the world's biggest airliner, for the maiden flight.
The existing Beijing Capital International Airport, which is the second busiest airport in the world, is reaching its full capacity, making it almost impossible for airlines to add flights at desirable times. The new mega-airport is expected to ease its load and become a new gateway to China.
In 2018, the Beijing Capital accommodated over 100 million passengers through its three terminals, making it the second busiest airport globally next to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta. China is expected to become the world's biggest air travel market by 2022, replacing the US.
Designed by the late architect Zaha Hadid and her Chinese partners, the Daxing will feature four runways and a terminal as big as 97 soccer pitches on its first phase. It will also have customer service robots providing flight updates and airport information.
The airport project, valued at $11.5 billion, started construction in 2014 with over 40,000 working on-site at its peak. The terminal's architectural design includes contour lines and more than 8,000 distinct rooftop windows that provide natural light to the building.
The first phase of the launch is projected to accommodate 72 million passengers and 2 million tons of cargo annually by 2025 but the master plan, which will feature 7 runways, could handle at least 100 million passengers and 4 million tons of cargo a year.
The new mega-airport will also try to reduce walking for passengers, which has been a complaint for new mega-hubs, by limiting walking time to about 8 minutes or a distance of less than 600 meters between security checkpoints and the farthest gates.
