Beijing's new airport to be world's biggest aviation hub

The new airport under construction south of Beijing will become the world's biggest aviation hub, reports the financial media company Bloomberg.

An artist's impression of what Beijing's new airport will look like. [File photo: qianlong.com]

Located on the southern part of Daxing district, along the border with Hebei province, the new airport is planned to go into service in 2019.

"There are demands to add hundreds of flights in Beijing every day that get refused because we're running out of resources. The city is capable of running dual hubs," said Liu Xuesong, the general manager of Capital Airports Holding Co., the operator of Beijing's existing airport, speaking to Bloomberg.

An artist's impression of Beijing's new airport. [File photo: Beijing Institute of Architectural Design]

The cost of construction of the new airport has been estimated at USD 12.9 billion. With at least seven runways, it is expected to handle around 100 million passengers a year. Beijing Capital International Airport in the northeast of the city saw over 90 million passengers last year.

"So far in history we haven't seen any city or city clusters having two hubs of the same scale," said Ma Chongxian, vice president of China National Aviation Holding Co., speaking at a conference in Beijing in May.

An artist's impression of a hall inside Beijing's new airport. [File photo: qianlong.com]

Subway and railway links are being built underneath the new terminal, as well as coach services, connecting the airport with downtown Beijing and neighboring Tianjin and Hebei.

The journey between the airport and downtown area of Beijing is expected to take about half an hour.