A photo shows the interior of Passenger Terminal 3 of the Beijing Capital International Airport, the second busiest airport in the world. (Photo : Xinhua)
Beijing is planning to open a new starfish-shaped airport in 2019 in order to make it more convenient for arriving passengers to access connecting flights and public transport, according to a report by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CACC) on Wednesday.
The airport will be in Beijing's southern Daxing District, which shares a border with Hebei Province.
Construction of the new airport started back in Dec. 2014. The project is estimated to cost around 79.98 billion yuan ($12 billion) and will take around five years to complete.
The Chinese government has encouraged private investment for the construction of the airport.
The airport is projected to service an estimated 72 million passengers, 2 million tons of cargo and 620,000 flights per year by 2025.
It is expected to meet Beijing's increasing demand for air transport and help balance the development of the southern and northern areas of the capital, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.
It is estimated that half of passengers are expected to reach the airport using public transport. This is a major step in the integrated development of Beijing, as well as its neighbors, Tianjin Municipality and Hebei Province.
The Beijing Capital International Airport in northeastern Beijing is currently the second busiest airport in the world in terms of passenger volume, servicing more than 83 million passengers in 2013. It is second only to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta.
Due to the current airport's limited capacity, around 300 flights and almost 10 million passengers are diverted to other airports each year, according to the CACC.
Along with the new airport, there are plans to develop a commercial district within 30 kilometers, with a population of over 1.5 million.
