News
China’s regulator greenlights new Chengdu airport as Beijing Daxing construction accelerates
April 22nd 2016
China’s top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), on Monday approved construction commencement of the Chengdu Tianfu International Airport in Jianyang, approximately 50kms south east of downtown Chengdu. Read More » The project carries a price tag of 7.18 billion yuan ($1.1 billion).
In a first phase opening in 2019, the airport plans to operate three runways and two terminals that will be capable of handling 40 million passengers and 700,000 tonnes of cargo. By 2040, Tianfu International aims to process 90 million passengers and two million tonnes of cargo in four terminals and on six runways. Chengdu’s current airport, Shuangliu International, will serve as the city’s secondary gateway when Tianfu International opens.
China will invest approximately 77 billion yuan ($11.7 billion) in civil aviation infrastructure development in 2016, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has said. They are eleven key infrastructure projects and 52 upgrades or expansion works on civil aviation facilities that have begun this year.
Beijing Daxing International Airport, designed by the late Zaha Hadid, is progressing, with construction of the terminal and air traffic control facilities underway and support facilities scheduled to commence in June.
The $13.1 billion airport, 46 kms south of Beijing, will have up to eight runways, 150 passenger aircraft parking bays and 24 cargo airplane spaces. At its (delayed) scheduled opening in December 2019, it is planned to process up to 45 million passengers a year, increasing to 72 million passengers, two million tonnes of cargo and 620,000 airplanes per annum by 2025.
Meanwhile, in neighbouring Hong Kong, the city’s Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) was again the subject of much debate and dissent this week after media reports suggested the facility needs more than just a third runway (expected to be operational from 2023, and carrying a massive price tag of $18.26 billion). Rather, the media reports continued, Hong Kong needs a fourth runway, or, even better, a new airport altogether to alleviate growing congestion at the current HKIA, which will reach its design capacity by year-end.
