CHINESE authorities have given plans for a second international airport in Beijing the green light, which should start welcoming passengers by end 2018 and ease the crunch at Beijing Capital International Airport.
According to an AFP report, the second airport will cost 70 billion yuan (US$11.2 billion) and be able to handle 70 million passengers annually by 2025.
A Beijing aviation spokesman said: “The plan for a new airport has been approved by the State Council (China’s cabinet).”
The facility, to be located south of Beijing, will have six runways for civilian aircraft and a seventh for military use, stated CAAC News, a paper with ties to China’s aviation administration.
The same paper reported that the proposal for a second airport in the capital was first drafted in 2008, but did not receive approval from the Central Military Commission until late last year.
Beijing Capital has been ranked the world’s second busiest airport after Hartsfield-Jackson, Atlanta in the US, moving 81.8 million passengers in 2012. Despite expansion ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, passengers have groused about the long delays.
