NEWS
The World’s Largest Airport Will Open This Week
Source: Peoples Daily Online
Coming in at a whopping 11,000,000 square feet and costing a reported $16 billion to construct, China’s Beijing Daxing Airport is set to open this week.
Nicknamed “The Starfish” by Chinese media, the airport was designed by the late architect Zaha Hadid and features the world’s largest terminal.
According to China’s state media agency, the terminal houses arrivals and departures on two floors, which then splits into six different arms.
“It is the world’s largest integrated transportation hub,” Bai Henghong, director of the Beijing Daxing International Airport project, told China’s state media agency. “The terminal building is also the world’s largest built with a seamless steel structure, boasting the world’s first design of double-deck departure and double-deck arrival platforms.”
According to CBS, customer-service robots will be on hand to provide travelers with airport information and flight updates, with Beijing Daxing eventually seeing high-speed rail, inter-city services, and downtown-to-airport express trains all stopping right beneath the terminal to provide travelers fast access to Beijing.
CBS reports the futuristic-looking airport hopes to accommodate 72 million passengers and 2 million tons of cargo annually by 2025, eventually building a total of seven runways, and moving at least 100 million passengers and 4 million tons of cargo a year through the airport.
