Beijing's massive new airport 'on time' for 2019 launch

Amid farmlands on the outskirts of Beijing, a massive construction site rising above the horizon bustles with activity as 8,000 workers build a new mega airport.

Aimed at easing the passenger load of Beijing's other two airports, Daxing International Airport is scheduled to become operational in June 2019, said Li Jianhua, vice chairman of Beijing City Planning New Airport Construction.

It will operate at full capacity by 2025 with eight runways expected to transport 72 million passengers annually.

China plans to further expand the airport to have a capacity of 100 million passengers a year, a civil aviation authority official told the China Newsweek in March -- which would make it one of the busiest in the world.

The International Air Transport Association has forecast that by 2020, existing airports in Beijing, Manila and Singapore will have reached full capacity.

"All our projects have finished on time or ahead of schedule and our techniques are all in line with international standards," Li told journalists on Thursday during a site visit.

Costing 63.9 billion yuan ($9.35 billion), the new airport will use some 200,000 tonnes of steel, the same amount used in building China's Liaoning aircraft carrier, Li said.

He added that builders have been working at a rate equivalent to putting up one 18-storey building a day.

Inside the construction site, beams of light shine through the glass roof illuminating the dark insides of the building.

A slew of propaganda banners encouraging occupational health and safety are strung up across the site with a giant Chinese flag hung up in the centre of the building.

Some 7.8 billion people are forecast to fly worldwide by 2036, with nearly half of passengers flying to, from, or within the Asia-Pacific region said IATA chief Alexandre de Juniac earlier this year.

Related Links
Aerospace News at SpaceMart.com

Tweet

Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.

SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly

paypal only

SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once

credit card or paypal

Air Force awards contract to M1 for T-38 maintenance
Washington (UPI) Aug 30, 2018
The U.S. Air Force has awarded a $23.4 million contract modification to M1 Support Services for maintenance on T-38 training aircraft. M1 Support Services, out of Denton, Texas, will specifically conduct intermediate and organizational maintenance on aircraft for Air Combat Command, Air Force Materiel Command and Air Force Global Strike Command, the Department of Defense said in a release. It will conduct work at a number of Air Force bases, with a Sept. 30, 2019, target date for complet ... read more