Design for 2nd Beijing airport begins

Design for a second civil airport in Beijing has begun, Beijing Times reported on Monday.

Although the final plan for the design has not yet been decided, concepts such as green energy and environmental protection will be utilized in the new airport, Zhu Xiaodi, head of the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design, said.

The paper reported that one of the early-stage design drafts showed the new airport's terminal will look like an airplane with two wings stretching out, as if ready to take off from the southern end of an invisible line dividing the city in half.

But Zhu, a deputy of Beijing People's Congress, stressed that designers put the airport terminal building's function ahead of its appearance.

The building of a new airport in Beijing was approved by the State Council in December last year, and its large-scale construction is expected to start next year, according to CAAC News, a newspaper affiliated to the civil administration.

The airport, located in the southern Daxing district and Hebei province, will have seven runways, including one for military use, and will be able to handle 70 million passengers annually by 2025.

Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA), the only international airport in Beijing, handled 81.8 million passengers last year, ranking it as the world's second busiest airport for three consecutive years.

The new airport is aimed at easing the burden on Beijing Capital International Airport in the short term, and in the long tern it is expected to coordinate with the BCIA and the airport in neighboring Tianjin municipality to handle even larger capacity, Zhu told the Beijing Times.