World's Largest Airport Being Built in Beijing
The Beijing Daxing International airport is set to be the world's largest single terminal airport when it opens later this year outside Beijing. Daxing will be Beijing's second international airport. The massive airport comes with a massive price tag of $14 billion. The airport is set to open in September and is expected to see as many as 79 million travelers by 2025 with a final target of 100 million when fully completed. Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson (ATL) airport currently is the busiest airport in the world with around 104 million passengers annually.
The airport is slated to have to total of eight runways, the shortest of which will be over 11,000 feet in length. The airport's overall footprint covers 18 square miles, while the terminal itself is more than 7.5 million square feet. Plenty of room for all those expected passengers.
From the outside you can get an idea of the massive scale of the project.
With a design that looks like it was inspired by Go To Meeting's logo, it certainly has an aesthetic that people are sure to love or hate.
The airport received its first flight this past week as testing begins for certification. The test flights will be checking out all of the airports navigational and landing aids as well as testing ATC procedures for the airport. Test flights are scheduled to be completed by the end of March.
H/T: The Atlantic
