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Beijing's new airport is gearing up to open in the fall
By Wang Hairong  ·  2019-05-20  ·   Source: NO. 21 MAY 23, 2019

An aerial picture of Beijing Daxing International Airport on December 29, 2018 (XINHUA)

From the sky, Beijing Daxing International Airport (BDIA), with five concourses stretching out from the terminal building, resembles a phoenix spreading its magnificent tail.

The new airport is a good match for dragon-like Terminal 3 at Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA), the existing airport, which has been strained by a booming demand for air transportation.

Located about 46 km south of downtown Beijing, BDIA is expected to open at the end of September. Thereafter, the "phoenix" and "dragon" will work together to serve air travelers from and to Beijing.

On the morning of May 13, four planes landed at BDIA as part of its first passenger plane test flight. The planes were sent by China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Air China and Xiamen Airlines. The test followed the airport's first flight of verification planes on January 22. It is scheduled to take a low-visibility test in August.

"The test flight is crucial for the opening of the airport," said Yan Xiaodong, Deputy Director General of the North China Air Traffic Management Bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

In total, 12 flight procedures were tested, Yan said, adding that his bureau will adjust flight procedures according to test results. Once they are approved, the airport will be ready to go into operation.

Landmark structure

"BCIA handled more than 100 million passengers in 2018, which is close to its capacity," said Cui Xiaohao, an official with the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission, at a press conference in January. The new airport will ease pressure on the existing one, giving it a chance to improve its facilities and services.

The CAAC predicted that Beijing's air passenger traffic will reach 150 million annually by 2025. The new airport is designed to handle 45 million passengers annually by 2021 and 72 million by 2025. In addition, there are long-term plans to expand the number to 100 million, according to the CAAC.

The new airport complex, consisting of a main terminal, a supporting service building and a parking lot, covers an area of about 1.4 million square meters. That's equivalent to 63 Tiananmen Squares and about the same as BCIA. Its investment totaled 80 billion yuan ($11.65 billion).

When it opens, some domestic airlines such as China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Beijing Capital Airlines and China United Airlines will move to the new facility, while others will remain at BCIA, according to the CAAC. Overseas airlines can choose to operate in either or both of the two airports.

An Air China passenger plane lands at Beijing Daxing International Airport after completing a test flight on May 13 (XINHUA)

Meticulous design

Under construction since 2015, BDIA was listed as the first of the "seven wonders of the modern world near completion" by the UK-based newspaper The Guardian that year. The new airport's shape reveals its designers' virtuosity and understanding of traditional Chinese culture. In China, the legendary phoenix epitomizes beauty and auspiciousness.

This ingenious design is a masterpiece created by two titans in the architectural world, the Paris-based ADP Ingeniérie and the London-based Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA). In 2014, the two formed a joint design team after winning the bid to design the new terminal.

As the only woman to ever win the Pritzker Architecture Prize—the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in architecture—Iraqi-born Zaha Hadid created many transforming works in her lifetime using concrete, steel and glass, including several Chinese landmarks, such as the Nanjing International Youth Cultural Center, the Guangzhou Opera House and the Beijing Sanlitun Soho buildings. BDIA's sweeping curved arch ceiling resting on several columns is based on her signature design style.

Her work involves more than meets the eye. "Her buildings are beautiful… but the beauty and virtuosity within her work is married to meaning," according to her company's website.

Designed with six piers radiating from the heart of the terminal, BDIA embodies the traditional Chinese architectural principle of organizing interconnected spaces around a central courtyard, according to ZHA. The compact design keeps the distance from any drop-off location to the boarding gates within 600 meters, or an 8-minute walk.

Housing many boarding gates in one terminal rather than several smaller ones connected by shuttle trains also reduces the carbon footprint, ZHA noted.

The airport has a large roof area and the gigantic dome of the central court is made of thousands of pieces of glass to make the facility not only pretty but also energy efficient.

With layers of toughened glass and aluminum mesh, the dome is heat insulated and sturdy, able to resist a wind of force 12 on the Beaufort scale, said Gao Aiping, Deputy General Manager of the Terminal Engineering Department of the Beijing New Airport Headquarters, an agency established to coordinate the project.

The airport also features some state-of-the-art technologies. It is equipped with a navigation aid system that allows the airport to continue to operate in sub-optimal weather conditions.

Yan told the media that BDIA is also equipped with an internationally-advanced ground guidance system that allows aircraft to take off with a runway visual range at or above 75 meters and blind landing instruments that allow planes to land as long as the visibility is no less than 50 meters.

Cutting-edge radar systems have been installed at the airport to provide faster and more accurate weather forecasts, Yan said. Laser weather radar will address the threat of low-altitude wind shear that can make an aircraft deviate from its track and lose stability, in addition to phased array radar to improve the forecast and early warning of thunderstorms and other bad weather, Yan said.

Integration hub

Straddling Beijing's Daxing District and Guangyang District of Langfang in Hebei Province, BDIA is located at the junction of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei.

In terms of straight line distance, it is 67 km from BCIA in the northeastern part of Beijing, 85 km from the Tianjin Binhai International Airport and 197 km from the airport in Shijiazhuang, capital city of Hebei.

The airport's location at the center of intercity transportation networks will make it easily accessible, while it is anticipated that it will also promote the region's integrated development.

Five years ago, China launched a national strategy promoting the integrated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Under the strategy, some entities with functions that are not essential to Beijing's role as the nation's capital will be moved to neighboring areas to alleviate congestion and pollution in the city.

In April 2017, the Central Government announced the establishment of Xiongan New Area in Hebei, which is 55 km from BDIA. The emerging city will become another economic zone of national significance, after Shenzhen and Pudong New Area in Shanghai.

BDIA will be accessible by three rail lines and four highways, including two subway lines and a new high-speed railway connecting Beijing and Xiongan that will pass by the new airport. Most of them either have been completed or are near completion.

"Beijing's new airport is an important landmark and will greatly benefit people in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region," said Zhang Fucheng, President of the North China University of Science and Technology in Tangshan, Hebei, adding that he believes the airport will accelerate the coordinated development of the region.

Copyedited by Rebeca Toledo

Comments to wanghairong@bjreview.com

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