President Xi Jinping inaugurates Beijing’s new Daxing airport
October 1, 2019 Category Travel, Weekly
Chinese President Xi Jinping on September 25 officially inaugurated Beijing’s new international airport in the suburb of Daxing. Construction of the airport took five years. The iconic star-like structure – designed by the late British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid who passed away in 2016 – is the world’s largest single-terminal building. It is the first airport to have two-story departure gates. Beijing Daxing International Airport is expected to eventually become one of the world’s busiest, as its operations relieve pressure on Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA). The first group of travelers who used the new airport were also the first to experience how the latest technologies set it apart from other second long-haul international airports in Tokyo, London, Paris and New York.
The seven-runway facility is expected to handle 72 million passengers a year by 2025. The CNY80 billion facility, 46 kilometers south of downtown Beijing, will ultimately handle over 100 million passengers a year, matching Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in the United States. Despite its size, the single-terminal design allows passengers to transfer to domestic or international flights in as little as 45 minutes, Kong Yue, the airport’s Deputy General Manager said.
China Southern will have 40% of airport slots at Daxing, followed by China Eastern with 30% and other airlines sharing the rest, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). China United Airlines, a subsidiary of China Eastern, will be the first airline to transfer its base of operations to Daxing from Beijing Nanyuan Airport, which will be closed.
Ultra-fast 5G mobile services, advanced facial recognition and smart robotics are some of the hi-tech features at the new airport. Huawei Technologies, China Eastern Airlines and China Unicom have joined forces to introduce a 5G-based smart travel system, which supports the facial recognition technology set-up at the airport’s security gates and check-in stations, as well as a paperless luggage-tracking service. China Mobile has rolled out new wireless base stations covering at least 20 key areas at the airport to support both 4G and 5G mobile users.
Security gates equipped with facial recognition technology can process 260 passengers per hour. The airport has also installed more than 400 self-service check-in machines, which are expected to shorten passengers’ waiting time to about 10 minutes. Passengers can have their faces scanned to check in their luggage, clear security and board the aircraft, which dispenses with showing an ID, holding tickets or scanning QR codes. To use the paperless luggage-tracking service, travelers must first apply for reusable RFID (radio frequency identification) tags to be attached on their baggage. They will also need to log their flight number and destination on their airline’s app before physically dropping off their luggage. Travelers can then track the status of their baggage using the app.
What could be the most anticipated innovation is its deployment of artificial intelligence-powered smart robots, which can work alongside regular airport personnel. One such robot is now being tested to help drivers park and pick up their cars at the terminal’s vast car park. It will reduce average parking times to about two minutes. JD.com’s Smart Parking System app also provides drivers with a real-time map of available parking slots.
Starting in the winter and spring seasons, the airport will serve 116 routes and 112 domestic and foreign destinations. With four runways, 268 parking bays and a vast terminal building covering 700,000 square meters, the new airport is expected to handle 45 million passenger trips a year by 2022 and 72 million by 2025, with international flights accounting for 20% and 40% of the total respectively.
The 41.4-kilometer subway connecting Caoqiao subway station in Fengtai district with Daxing airport went into operation. A high-speed train traveling between Xiong’an and Tianjin also stops at the airport. The wider area surrounding the airport will be developed as an “airport economic zone”. The government hopes the new zone will be a hi-tech hub for industries such as electronics manufacturing and logistics.
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