Daxing airport marks one year of operations

The new Beijing Daxing International Airport, which is weathering the tough blow brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year, marked its first anniversary on Friday with total annual passenger throughput exceeding 10 million.

"Daxing airport has handled some 84,000 takeoffs and landings since it began operating on Sept 25 last year, along with 10.23 million passenger trips and 40,000 metric tons of cargo," Yao Yabo, general manager of Beijing Daxing International Airport, said at a news conference.

At its busiest, the airport handled over 660 flights a day in September, with daily passenger flow peaking at 92,000, he added.

The figure comes as domestic air travel in China is seeing a vibrant recovery amid effective epidemic control. Over 45.3 million domestic passenger trips were made last month, recovering to more than 80 percent of the level during the same period last year, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

The robust growth in passenger volume of Daxing airport is also facilitated by multiplying flights, from about 200 flights per day during initial operations to about 650 daily flights currently, as airlines have been transferring flight operations from Beijing Capital International Airport, he said.

Han Wensheng, deputy Party secretary of China Southern Airlines, said the company has so far transferred 80 percent of its flights in Beijing to Daxing airport and is expected to move all of its flights by the end of next month.