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The Beijing International Airport gives you the glimpse of China's billion dollar infrastructure and its vision of 21st century air travel. China is going to host the Olympic games of 2008 and it is crystal clear that during this period the country will witness a huge number of people coming from different parts of the world. China's air traffic is also increasing every year and the airport is built to handle the rising number of air passengers.
Features of the Beijing Airport
- The size of the airport's terminal is 100 hectares, which makes it even larger than Pentagon and the combined size of the five terminals of London's Heathrow airport.
- The walls of the terminals are made of glass and the skylights of the terminal resembles to the scales on a dragon's back. This is to ensure that there is ample natural light in the airport.
- The giant terminal is build at a whopping cost of around $3.75 billion. Nearly 50,000 workers worked in 8 shifts to complete the construction.
- Norman Foster, the famous British architect has designed the airport. Foster had also designed the Chep Lap Kok airport of Hong Kong.
- The airport has been built by British firm Arup.
- The new terminal is expected to handle almost 75 million passengers per year. The terminal also boasts of a high tech passenger baggage system which can candle nearly 19,800 bags per hour.
- The airport has 64 restaurants, 80 retail stores, 173 lifts, 175 escalators, 437 travelators and 300 check in counters.
- One can reach the airport from Beijing within 15 minutes through a high speed commuter train.
- The airport’s runway is capable of handling the world’s largest passenger aircraft, Airbus A380.Initially the airport will be served by the following airlines: Air China, Sichuan Airlines, Shandong Airlines, Hong Kong's Dragonair, Singapore Airlines, British Airways, Lufthansa, Air Canada, Qatar Airways, Qantas Airways, El Al Israel Airlines and Emirates.
