Beijing to choose site for second int'l airport
2/11/2007 16:53
China's civil aviation authorities consider to choose southern suburbs in
Beijing as site for a second international airport for the Chinese capital,
which is faced with gobbling air transport demand in both passengers and cargos
in the coming decade.
An official with the General Administration of Civil
Aviation of China (CAAC) said, the most palpable site for the new international
airport would be south to the city on either south or north bank of the Yongding
River, which divides Beijing and bordering Hebei Province, the oversea-edition
People's Daily reported yesterday.
The official, whose name was not released
by the newspaper, said the CAAC has already submitted the site selection
proposals to the State Council, which mandates the National Development and
Reform Commission (NDRC) to review the CAAC proposals.
The CAAC official said
before making the proposals, the administration researched and analyzed air
traffic, geographic conditions and ground transport layouts in areas which are
chosen as candidates, the newspaper said.
"If we put the new jumbo airport in
the southern suburbs," the officials was quoted as saying, "it will construct a
tripod of air transport hubs together with the existing Beijing Capital
International Airport and the big airport in Tianjin."
Beijing Capital
International Airport (BCIA), the busiest one in China, just opened its third
runway Monday. The new runway, 3,800 meters long and 60 meters wide, was built
for meeting rapidly increasing air demands for the coming Olympics in 2008. It
is part of an expansion project that includes a new terminal building, 100 new
aprons, a cargo zone and auxiliary facilities.
"The airport handles 1,100
arrival and departure flights every day. That will probably rise to 1,500 to
1,600 and peak at 1,900 during the Olympics next year, so the third runway is
much needed, " said a BCIA spokesperson.
BCIA, a Hong Kong-listed company,
saw 376,600 arrivals and departures as well as transported 48.65 million global
passengers in 2006, ranked among the busiest 10 airports in the
world.
Although the transport capacity of BCIA, 27 kilometers northeast to
Beijing, would be enhance remarkably to 60 million passengers and 1.8 million
tons of cargo each year, Beijing still needs a new international airport, which
is expect to alleviate overheated ground traffic to BCIA and further accommodate
more and more transcontinental flights to China, an NDRC official
said.
According to the NDRC urban planning towards 2010, construction for the
new international airport will begin by 2010. The proposed new site would be
most likely under jurisdiction of Daxing District.
"We expect the new airport
would dynamically boost local economy in Daxing and adjacent Langfang, Zhuozhou
and other cities in Hebei," Shen Baochang, head official in Daxing
said.
Other previous proposals included candidate locations such as Zhuozhou,
a satellite city to Beijing, and even somewhere near Tianjin, a metropolis about
90 kilometers southeast to Beijing.
Wu Liangyong, a Qinghua University
professor who is a recognized architect, suggested a place near Tianjin be the
site for Beijing's second international airport.
The new airport, in Wu's
mind, might be expanded to a modern city and connected to both Beijing and
Tianjin by expressways.
Besides BCIA, Beijing now has two airports for
civilian use, with the much smaller one, Nanyuan airport, being located on the
southern edge of the city. The transport capacity of Nanyuan airport, operated
by the Air Force-turned civilian carrier of China United Airlines (CUA), is
insignificant with only about 15 passenger flight routes and a few cargo
routes.
Xinhua
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