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New Beijing airport breaks ground

Construction of Beijing's new international airport started on Friday.

The project will cost 79.98 billion yuan (US$13.11 billion) and take about five years to complete.

The airport is designed to handle 72 million passengers, 2 million tons of cargo, and 620,000 flights by 2025, according to the National Development and Reform Commission, which approved the plan on December 15.

It is expected to meet the Chinese capital's rising demand for air transportation and help achieve balanced development in the city's southern and northern areas, it said.

The new airport will be built in southern Beijing's Daxing District, which borders Hebei Province. Beijing International Airport, located in northeastern Beijing, was the world's second busiest airport in terms of passenger numbers last year, after Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in the United States.

Due to limited capacity to handle flights, about 300 flights every day and nearly 10 million passengers each year are diverted to other airports, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

With the operation of the new airport, a busy commercial district will be formed within about 30 kilometers from the airport, with a population of more than 1.5 million, said Zhao Wei, a professor with Civil Aviation Management Institute of China.

"I came to see the ground-breaking ceremony with the hope that it can bring us more jobs," said Li Zhenbing, a villager of Xisonggezhuang in Daxing District.




 

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