The world’s newest major airport, Beijing Daxing, opened for business today as China marked another major milestone in the modernisation and expansion of its aviation infrastructure.
The new $12.9 billion gateway is one of the key developments in the modernisation and expansion of its airport infrastructure as China prepares to replace the US as the largest aviation market on the planet by as early as 2022.
Located 46 kilometres south of Beijing’s Tian’anmen Square, the Zaha Hadid designed airport took five years to build and will initially boast a single 700,000sqm terminal and four runways capable of accommodating up to 45 million passengers per annum.
However, this figure will rise to 72 million when fully open in 2025 and with future phased expansion it is expected that to be capable of handling in excess of 100 million passengers annually by 2040.
Its opening means that between them Beijing’s two airports (Daxing and Capital) will be equipped to accommodate 170 million annual passengers by 2025.