Beijing's new airport to open in two years

With the roof and the glass curtain walls being installed, the construction of Beijing’s new airport is underway, and the terminal building is expected to be roofed by the end of 2017. The entire airport will be completed in July 2019, and will open in October later that year, according to the construction headquarters of the new Beijing airport.

Zhu Wenxin, spokesperson of the construction headquarters, said that by September, the roofing of the concrete structure and steel framework of the terminal building, together with the major structure of the transportation center (including the parking structure and the service building), had all been completed. Now the ongoing work includes roofing and installation of the glass curtain walls. It is expected that by the end of this year the construction will proceed to interior decoration and installation of the mechanical and electrical equipment. Meanwhile the construction of the airfield and other supporting projects are also under way.

According to Zhu, the terminal of the new airport consists of five piers extending around a circular center. The design ensures efficiency by allowing for more gate positions and effectively cutting the distance from the center of the terminal to the gates at the end of each pier. The terminal also features the world’s first double-deck design that provides a passenger capacity of 72 million. A number of the terminal gates will be shared by international and domestic flights to facilitate easier transfers.

The four runways of the new airport will feature China’s first omnidirectional design, with three vertical runways and one horizontal runway. Zhu said that this configuration improves operative efficiency through reducing flight time, taxiing distance, as well as noise pollution. In addition, the new airport will be supported by a number of new technologies such as anti-smog ventilation system and various interactive features accessible through mobile devices.

The new airport is located 46 kilometers from Tiananmen, and is designed to handle 100 million passengers and 4 million tons of cargo a year. The current phase of construction is designed to attain the following targets in 2025: passenger throughput of 72 million people, cargo throughput of 200 tons, and 620,000 flights per year. Altogether the airport will have four runways and 700,000 square meters of terminal buildings and support facilities for freight transportation and maintenance.