As the world’s most populous country, it makes sense China would have the world’s
busiest airport, and when the Beijing Daxing International Airport opens in 2018, it will.
With a maximum capacity of 130 million passengers a year, it will be significantly busier than
the world’s current busiest airport [Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson].
To make this work, Beijing-Daxing’s main terminal will sprawl over 7.5-million square-feet.
It’s unique starfish design was created by Zaha Hadid Architects to “provide an
exceptional passenger experience with minimal walking and increased connectivity."
The new Mega-Airport could have as many as nine runways: eight for civilian use and one
for the military, and will cover more than 6,600 acres in southern Daxing along its border
with Hebei province.
Construction will cost around $13 billion, and will include a dedicated high speed rail
line to connect the airport to the rest of Beijing’s transportation system.
Beijing’s existing Capital International Airport is already running well over-capacity
and has become the second busiest in the world even though it just opened in 2008.
So to ease congestion, it will stay open, providing the Jing-Jin-Ji supercity with two
mega-airports.
But it’s not just passenger congestion that makes it hard to fly in China.
Some analysts say the root of the problem is that the military controls 80% of the airspace,
which forces civilian aircraft to operate in narrow corridors, slowing them down.
That’s why flight delays are rampant throughout the country.
But that’s an issue China can and will fix, because it knows that while the 20th century
was the century of the automobile, the 21st will be dominated by the airplane, especially
once faster, more efficient aircraft are introduced, making it even easier and cheaper to get around
our increasingly interconnected planet.
Thanks for watching.
For TDC, I’m Bryce Plank.
I’ll talk with you in the next video!