BEIJING, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- 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 Thursday.
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.
