Beijing Capital International Airport will expand its takeoff and landing capacity by 50 percent when it begins trial operations of its third runway in October in advance of next year's Olympics.

 

The 200 million yuan (US$26.4 million) structure will raise capacity at the nation's busiest airfield by 30 flights to 90 flights an hour, the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China said in a statement posted on its Website yesterday.

 

The runway will be 3,800 meters long and will be able to accommodate the Airbus A380, the world's largest commercial aircraft.

 

"Airport executives began preliminary discussions with Beijing authorities in 2002 to determine the operation and management profile of the new runway," the statement said.

 

The airport will start training for its new staff in the second half of this year to ensure controllers are accustomed to multi-terminal and multi-runway operations.

 

"The new facilities will help solve long-standing congestion as the government gets ready for the summer games next year," said Li Mingliang, an analyst at Haitong Securities Co.

 

The addition of a new runway and a third terminal will raise the annual capacity of Beijing's main airport to 78 million passengers ahead of the Olympics, which is expected to bring 500,000 overseas visitors to China.

 

Beijing airport's passenger traffic increased 16 percent in the first half of the year to 26 million travelers.

 

Total expenditures for airport expansion will reach 140 billion yuan by 2010, according to the government's five-year plan.

 

(China Daily July 19, 2007)