The Unique Design of Daxing Airport Terminal

• The terminal building of the new airport is the “child” of the late architect Zaha Hadid and bears all the qualities of her work
• The Starfish of Beijing as it is often called because of its shape covers a 1000000m2 area and has a large central space and 5 “tentacles”, resembling a giant “octopus”
• Its golden roof has scattered windows allowing natural light to illuminate the whole place
• The concept behind the design of the Terminal is to separate the arrivals from the departures
• Thus, there are two levels serving the arriving flights, both domestic and international, and two more, handling the departure airport duties
• Hence, a single terminal building is able to cover the needs of a large number of passengers, making the airport’s services more effective and economical
• The passengers have the possibility to navigate through the central area where all the shops and the provided facilities are located and then, head to their departure gate, situated in one of the corridors
• Amazingly, despite the huge size of the airport, the walking distance between the core center and each gate doesn’t exceed 600 meters
• Passengers can shop and wander around care-free, knowing that their gate is only 8 minutes away maximum 

The Innovations of the New Terminal

• Daxing airport pioneers the use of double-deck departure and arrival platforms and is equipped with latest-technology services such as facial-recognition equipment and baggage-tracking systems
• Aiming to be one of a kind, the new airport could only be extremely environmentally friendly. Low-carbon policies, solar panels and systems collecting the rainwater in order to further use it, are only some examples of the general philosophy that inspire the airport’s operation
• What’s more, the whole design of Daxing airport is sparked by Chinese tradition and culture
• Typical Chinese touches will be combined with futuristic elements while five outdoor traditional Chinese gardens adorn the five corridors
• The airport shape, after all, can easily be compared to a giant phoenix, a very characteristic Chinese symbol
• Lastly, below the terminal, an enormous transportation hub is located featuring the airport’s train and subway stations
• In the foreseeable future, a City Terminal will be constructed at Lize Financial Business Area
• Once finished, the passengers using the terminal in question will have the possibility to directly check-in there and hand their luggage which will be directed straight to the airport

How many runways does Daxing airport have ?

• For the time being – Daxing Airport has four runways and 79 airport stands
• The 4 runways’ size is impressive while the airport stands are suitable both for one twin-aisle and two single-aisle planes
• Eventually, the airport will have 7 runways in total and will be able to serve about 620000 flights annually

What are the transportation options from Daxing airport ?

• The airport is 46 kilometres (29 mi) south of Tiananmen Square, 26 kilometres (16 mi) west of downtown Langfang, 50 kilometres (31 mi) northeast of Xiong’an New Area, and 65 kilometres (40 mi) south of Beijing Capital International Airport, and is expected to serve Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei
• Daxing airport transportation system is effective and affordable
• The new Beijing-Xiong’an Intercity railway connects Daxing airport to Beijing city center in 20 minutes – costing 30 RMB (3.8€ / 4.2$)
• The new Daxing airport subway Line takes one to Beijing in only 19 minutes with a cost of 35 RMB (4.4€ / 4.8$) per person
• Moreover, Daxing airport taxis will transfer you to your destination in comfort with an average fare of 220 RMB (29€ / 30.5$)
• However, one can also use the 6 less expensive (only 40RMB (5€ / 5.5$) for an adult ticket) Daxing airport bus lines

Which airlines are going to operate at Daxing airport ?

• Since the airport has recently opened, the number of daily flights is still limited
• The more time that goes by, there will be an increase in air itineraries in the airport’s schedule
• For the time being, all the major China air carriers such as China Eastern, China Southern, China United and Air China airlines are present at Daxing airport along with some international airways
• It serves as a hub for SkyTeam alliance airlines and some Oneworld members, while Star Alliance members will stay at Beijing Capital International Airport (with the exception of LOT Polish Airlines, which will serve Daxing as well)
• Hainan Airlines, which accounted for 10% of Beijing Capital International’s passenger seat capacity in 2016, but is not part of any major alliance, remains at Capital Airport
• It was initially planned for airlines of the SkyTeam alliance to be relocated to the new airport, while Star Alliance airlines would remain at Capital, effectively making both airports hubs
• This was confirmed in 2016, when the Civil Aviation Administration of China announced that China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and Xiamen Airlines along with other SkyTeam airlines would move to the new airport, while Air China and other Star Alliance carriers would remain at Capital
• China Southern, China Eastern and Beijing Capital Airlines’ intentions to move to Daxing were confirmed by a Xinhua report in December 2017
• Ten passenger airlines (China Southern Airlines, China United Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Beijing Capital Airlines, Hebei Airlines, Spring Airlines, Okay Airways, Juneyao Airlines, XiamenAir and Donghai Airlines) and one cargo airline (China Postal Airlines) signed agreements with the Capital Airport Group to enter the new airport
• CAAC required each Mainland Chinese airline (other than China Postal Airlines) to serve only one Beijing-area airport following the opening of Daxing, but allowed foreign airlines (including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan-based airlines) to operate from both airports if they wished to do so
• China Eastern Group and China Southern Group were each allocated 40% of landing slots with the remaining 20% for smaller Mainland China and international airlines
• However, on 1 May 2019, this plan was changed by CAAC, with China Eastern Group relinquishing 10% of its allocated slots (to give it 30% of slots) to Air China Group in exchange for the China Eastern group continuing to operate its Shanghai-Beijing flights at Beijing Capital Airport
• Among Oneworld carriers, British Airways and Malaysia Airlines will move their London- and Kuala Lumpur-to-Beijing flights to Daxing whilst Finnair has filed for flights from Helsinki-to-Daxing as well as retaining a daily flight to Capital
• American Airlines has indicated plans to relocate flights from Capital to Daxing due to its tie-up with China Southern
• Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon reportedly intend to stay at Capital
• The alliance announced in February 2019, that its member airlines were considering a formal co-location scheme at Daxin

Who designed Daxing airport ?

• Daxing airport’s terminal building is the impressive outcome of the collaboration between ADP Ingeniérie (ADPI) and the architecture team of Zaha Hadid (ZHA) who tragically passed away in 2016
• Subsequently, in August 2018, Hong Kong design studio Lead 8 undertook the design of the new commercial terminal which is anticipated to respond to every passenger’s needs
• The airport’s master plan was prepared by NACO (Netherlands Airport Consultants) and will feature a ground transportation centre providing the airport with public transportation links to high-speed rail, metro, expressways, Beijing Airport Bus routes, local buses and inter-airport transportation system
• The terminal building was designed by British architects Zaha Hadid Architects and French planners ADPI and executed by the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design (BIAD)
• It consists of a central hub with six curved spokes
• The façade was designed by XinShan Curtainwall and Beijing Institute of Architectural Design
• Arup was subcontracted by Beijing Institute of Architectural Design as the fire engineering consultant while China IPPR International Engineering was responsible for security system and baggage system designs
• BuroHappold Engineering, as part of the consortium, worked with the architects to integrate engineering solutions into the design of the airport
• Hong Kong design studio Lead 8 was appointed as lead designer of the integrated service building (the 6th pier) in 2018
• The terminal, according to Lead 8, will encompass “a purposeful design of work spaces, with integrated retail, dining, and entertainment options for the large number of passengers expected,” with plans to incorporate interactive pet hotels, a child care and nursery, hybrid online retail and dining, and a showroom for companies
• Other contractors involved in the project include China Electronics Engineering Design Institute, Civil Aviation Electronic Technology, The Third Rail Survey and Design Institute Group Corporation (TSDI China), Beijing City Construction Design Research General Institute and Beijing General Municipal Engineering Design & Research Institute
• Beijing TsingHua TonHeng Urban Planning and Design Institute, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Dtree, Lea-Elliot, Lighting Design Studio, and East Sign Design & Engineering were also involved in the project
• Suppliers include Xsight Systems, T-Systems, Schindler, Thales, Beijing EasySky Technology and Oasys

Who owns Beijing Daxing airport ?

• The colossal project of the Daxing airport construction was funded by the Chinese government
• With its budget reaching 11.5 billion U.S. dollars (80 billion yuan), the second Beijing airport is one of the biggest airports in the world ultimately serving a 100 million passengers annually !

Construction

• Construction of the airport began on December 26, 2014 and was led by chief engineer Guo Yanchi
• By March 2017, the terminal had its concrete structure capped
• On January 23, 2019, the first flight inspection began to be carried out and was expected to be completed in March
• On June 30, 2019, the airport officially finished construction and was in preparation for its September opening
• The construction of the airport itself cost CN¥120bn (approximately US$17bn), with other projects in the periphery costing CN¥330bn (US$46.2bn), giving a total cost of CN¥450bn (US$63bn)

Opening

 

Atrium of airport where the opening ceremony was held

• The airport opened on 25 September 2019—just six days before the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China—in a ceremony attended by the Chinese president and General Secretary of the Communist Party Xi Jinping
• Inaugural flights from seven Chinese airlines began later in the afternoon although flights operating out of the airport on the day were member-only, with the first official flight out of the airport an Airbus A380 operated by China Southern Airlines
• Flights for the public began the following day on 26 September 2019
• The first commercial flight landed at Beijing Daxing at 10:12 (UTC+8), September 26, 2019
• The airport serves as the hub for China United Airlines immediately after its opening and all their services have been relocated to Beijing Daxing. Others, such as China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines, will also relocate
• Upon opening of the Daxing Airport, Beijing Nanyuan Airport, the oldest airport in China, closed on the same day. A military airfield will co-exist in Daxing, as was the case in Nanyuan.