Workers have upgraded a standby airport near Beijing for the Olympics and Paralympics in building a new terminal, enlarging the tarmac and lengthening the runway.

A new terminal building with a floor space of 55,000 square meters was built at Wusu International Airport about 15 km south of Taiyuan, capital of north China's Shanxi Province close to Beijing.

It would become operational on July 1, and only be used to handle alternate landings of Olympic flights during the Games and Paralympics period, an airport spokesman said.

The new terminal was designed to handle 6 million passengers annually by 2015.

The old 25,800-square-meter terminal was renovated and would continue to be used.

Workers also stretched the airport runway from 3,200 meters to 3,600 meters to accommodate alternate landings for the Airbus A380, the world's largest aircraft, the spokesman said.

In addition, the tarmac was enlarged by 210,000 square meters to provide 18 more aircraft parking bays.

The expansion and renovation project, amid efforts to ensure a smooth Olympics, was started in March 2006 with an investment of 1.57 billion yuan (US$228.9 million).

(Xinhua News Agency June 28, 2008)