BEIJING: Xi Jingping, Chinese President, inaugurated Beijing’s multi-billion-dollar airport, the Daxing International today, on September 25. Chinese authorities have completed the task of developing the 450-billion-yuan project in less than 5 years. The airport is constructed in a phoenix-shaped and with it, the Chinese government aims to ease the pressure on the existing Capital International Airport in the capital’s northeast, where capacity constraints often cause flight delays. The airport would be connected to the south of Beijing via an express train, which would take about 20 minutes to connect with the city.
China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines are the main airlines at Daxing, while about 50 foreign airlines, including British Airways and Finnair, plan to move all or part of their operations in the next few quarters.
Against an initial plan for China Southern and China Eastern to move all operations to the new airport, with each getting 40 per cent of its capacity, China Eastern has retained its highly profitable Beijing-Shanghai route out of the old airport.
The relocation of all airlines is to be completed by winter of 2021.