Beijing Capital International Airport is the main international airport serving
Beijing. It is located 32 km (20 mi) northeast of Beijing's city center,[citation needed] in an enclave of
Chaoyang District and the surroundings of that enclave in suburban
Shunyi District. The airport is owned and operated by the
Beijing Capital International Airport Company Limited, a state-controlled company. The airport's
IATA Airport Code,
PEK, is based on the city's former romanized name,
Peking.
Beijing Capital has rapidly ascended in rankings of the world's busiest airports in the past decade. It had become the busiest airport in
Asia in terms of passenger traffic and total traffic movements by 2009.
As of 2012, Beijing Capital International Airport is the second busiest airport in the world in terms of passenger throughput behind
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The airport registered 557,167 aircraft movements (take-offs and landings), which ranked 6th in the world in 2012. In terms of cargo traffic,
Beijing airport has also witnessed rapid growth. By 2012, the airport had become the
13th busiest airport in the world by cargo traffic, registering 1,787,027 tonnes. Beijing Capital International Airport is the main hub for Air
China, the flag carrier of the
People's Republic of China, which flies to around
120 destinations (excluding cargo) from Beijing.
Hainan and
China Southern Airlines also use the airport as their hub. To accommodate the growing traffic volume, Beijing Capital added the enormous
Terminal 3 in 2008 in time for the
Olympic Games, the second largest airport terminal in the world after
Dubai International Airport's Terminal 3, and the fifth largest building in the world by area.
Beijing Airport was opened on March 2,
1958. The airport then consisted of one small terminal building, which still stands to this day, apparently for the use of
VIPs and charter flights. On
January 1,
1980, a newer, larger building -- green in colour -- opened, with docks for 10 to 12 aircraft. The terminal was larger than the one in the
1950s, but by the mid-1990s, it was too small. The terminal was then closed for renovation after the opening of
Terminal 2. In late
1999, to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the
PRC, the airport was expanded again. This new terminal opened on
November 1, and was named Terminal 2.
September 20, 2004, saw the opening of a new
Terminal 1 for a few airlines, including China Southern Airlines' domestic and international flights from Beijing. Other airlines' domestic and international flights still operate in Terminal 2. A third runway of
BCIA opened on
October 29,
2007, to relieve congestion on the other two runways. Another expansion, Terminal 3 (T3) was completed in
February 2008, in time for the
Beijing Olympics. This colossal expansion includes a third runway and another terminal for Beijing airport, and a rail link to the city-center. At its opening, It was the largest man made structure in the world in terms of area covered, and a major landmark in Beijing representing the growing and developing
Chinese city. The expansion was largely funded by a 30 billion yen loan from
Japan and 500-million-euro (
USD 625 million) loan from the
European Investment Bank (
EIB). The loan is the largest ever granted by the EIB in Asia; the agreement was signed during the eighth China-EU
Summit held in
September 2005.
Fresh from hosting the
2008 Olympic Games and completion of its new terminal building, Beijing Capital has overtaken
Tokyo Haneda to be the busiest airport in Asia based on scheduled seat capacity. Due to limited capacity at Beijing Capital International Airport, a new airport in
Daxing is being planned.
The project was given final approval on
January 13,
2013. Construction is expected to begin in 2014 and be completed in 2018. The airport will have six runways for civil use and one for military use. It is not yet clear how flights will be divided between the two airports but one plan is that all airlines of the SkyTeam airline alliance is to move to the new airport.
A 98.3 m (323 ft) monitoring tower stands at the southern end of T3, the highest building at the airport. The roof of T3 is red, the
Chinese color for good luck.
- published: 28 Jul 2011
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