China is set to open its $12bn Beijing Daxing International Airport in September to meet the growing demand for air travel in the country.
The airport was designed by the late British architect Zaha Hadid and is claimed to be the world’s largest.
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It will include a 3.37 million-square-foot terminal building and four runways.
The phoenix-shaped airport is expected to initially manage 72 million passengers and two million tonnes of cargo per annum by 2025.
Once all six runways become operational, the airport will be able to handle more than 100 million passengers annually and four million tonnes of cargo per annum.
The new airport will include five concourses and five traditional Chinese gardens, where travellers can wait for their flights.
Beijing Daxing International Airport project manager Li Jianhua told The Washington Post: “The general contracting is done by ourselves. We didn’t corporate with international companies.
“Most of the equipment is domestically made. Most of the materials are domestically made.”
Construction of the airport started in 2014.
The new airport in Beijing’s far south is said to be a part of a major project by the Chinese Government to develop the plain that includes the cities of Beijing and Tianjin, along with Hebei province.
Before the Beijing Olympics in 2008, China opened a new $4bn airport terminal that covered approximately 200 football fields in floor space, with an annual capacity to welcome 50 million passengers.
