13. Case 9: Beijing Daxing International Airport

The iconic starfish structure of Beijing Daxing International Airport is the largest single structure airport terminal in the world. It is China’s new largest airport with an area of 700,000 square meters and cost involved for its construction was £8.8 billion. The airport is estimated to carry 170 million passengers by the year 2025. The Airport is built on the border of Beijing and Langfang. The airport is located 40 miles south of Beijing Capital International Airport. Beijing Capital International Airport is positioned as the second busiest airport in the world. This airport is running at full capacity. The new Beijing International airport is expected to ease the congestion of flights between Beijing and the rest of the world. The airport has the capacity to handle 300 takeoffs and landing per hour. All major China air carriers such as China Eastern, China Southern, China United and Air China airlines have presence in Daxing airport. The new Beijing Xiongan Intercity railway connects Daxing airport to Beijing city center in 20 minutes and the Daxing airport subway connects Beijing in 19 minutes. The Beijing-Xiong’an high-speed railway will connect Beijing’s West Railway Station with Daxing Airport, completing the trip in 20 minutes The airport serves as the hub for China United Airlines. It is forecasted that by 2025, the airport will have four runways and 268 parking bays which will accommodate 620,000 flights and handle 72 million passengers per year. The airport has the world’s largest terminal spanning 7.5 million square feet which is equivalent to 98 soccer fields. With runways and annexes, the whole surface area covers 18 square miles. The Beijing Daxing International Airport is also known as “the starfish. The glimmering structure resembles a giant starfish from top with six curved spokes spreading out from a central hub. The official approval for the construction of the Airport by given by the National Development and Reform Commission on December 22, 2014. The airport was to be designed with seven runways of which six were for civilian use and one for military purposes. The cost of construction was initially estimated to be at least 70 billion RMB (US$11.2 billion). It is the world’s largest integrated transport hub. It is estimated that by 2040, approximately 100 million passengers and 20 million tonnes of cargo will be received by the airport on a yearly basis. According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the airport will contribute 900 billion yuan to the regional economy.