Guangzhou Baiyun airport

The expansion plan for the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport has been approved by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

Guangzhou Baiyun will construct a third runway and another terminal, which will involve a total investment of RMB 14.036 billion, but the company did not reveal the exact date of construction.

The airport targets to handle 40 million people by 2010. Last year, Guangzhou Baiyun handled 30,958,467 people, making it the second busiest airport in mainland China in terms of passenger traffic.

Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport is one of the three largest air hubs in China and the main hub of China Southern Airlines.
Source: China Knowledge

97 new airports will be built in China before 2020 including a second international airport in Beijing.

All of this is listed in the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) latest airport development plan.

According to the plan, which covers the years up to 2020, the number of airports nationwide will increase to 192 by 2010, and to 244 by 2020.

At the end of 2006, there were 147, including 45 used for both civilian and military purposes.

This means 82 in every 100 people — who contribute 96% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) — will live within 100 km, or 90 minutes’ drive, from an airport by 2020.

At present, only 61% of people —  who contribute 82% of GDP —  live within this range.

The CAAC said the new airports will cost an estimated total of RMB450 billion ($64 billion).

The CAAC predicts passenger traffic will grow by 11.4% annually from now until 2020, during which time freight traffic will increase by 14% a year. More on this HERE.
Source: English People’s Daily Online

According to Yang Guoqing, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) deputy administrator Beijing Capital International Airport this month will receive 1,500 flights and 260,000 passengers daily , setting new records in the airport’s history.

Most Olympic delegations and spectators have already started to arrive so that  the number of flights of both arriving pre-the Games, and departing afterwards have been increased  by one fifth compared with normal days.

The Capital Airport expects to receive 100 special flights for state leaders, 160 chartered flights and 1,000 business aircraft flights. Busiest time will be August 6 to 11, with Aug. 7 the peak.

Beijing is prone to thunderstorms in early August but four alternative airports exist in the northern cities of Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan and Hohhot. Each will have 100 parking bays ready for alternative landings.
Source: China View

The Yunnan provincial government and Grand China Air — which is partially owned by billionaire financier George Soros — have agreed to establish Yunnan Airlines, a joint venture airline that will challenge China Eastern Airlines’ dominance of the Yunnan air travel market.

The announcement comes at a time when air travel in Yunnan and elsewhere in southwest China is expected to continue its rapid growth and Kunming is building what will be one of China’s largest airports. The one in the illustration below is the current one.

The news also came shortly after state regulatory body the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) stripped Shanghai-based China Eastern of several air routes in Yunnan — including flights to Dali and Xishuangbanna — after an apparent mid-air strike by pilots in March of this year.

The company is still awaiting regulatory approval from the central government — which is likely, given that a provincial government will be a stakeholder in the company.

Despite the potential conflict of interest, the Yunnan government released a statement in which it said that in addition to Yunnan Airlines’ plans to establish its hub in Kunming it hopes that other airlines including China Eastern’s Yunnan subsidiary will further develop their operations in Kunming.

Yunnan Airlines will start out with a fleet of at least 30 aircraft.
Source: Go Kunming

Beijing has opened a huge new $3.6 billion airport terminal ahead of the expected influx of millions of visitors to this summer’s Olympics, part of a multi-billion infrastructure boost for the capital.

So far it has had none of the disasters that have so marred the opening of London Heathrow’s Terminal 5.

The impressive Beijing terminal’s nearly 3-km (2-mile) long concourse is divided into three sections and connected by a shuttle train. The new terminal will boost capacity at the airport to 76 million passengers compared with the 52 million who used the airport last year.

The government is also busy opening new subway lines and roads, as part of a $40 billion project to revamp and modernize Beijing in preparation for the Olympics.

The new airport terminal is supposed to resemble a dragon, complete with triangular windows cut into the ceiling as though they were scales. It was designed by British architect Norman Foster, who also designed Hong Kong’s Chep Lap Kok airport.

A train link, to open before the Olympics, will take passengersdowntown in about 15 minutes on the 28 km line, and the high-tech baggage system will handle 19,800 bags per hour.

It has almost double the number of boarding gates of the old terminals and nearly 300 check-in desks. However, China’s civil aviation regulator continues to berate airlines and airports for their poor treatment of passengers and is desperately trying to get them to raise standards ahead of the flood of visitors who will come for the Olympics.

Beijing airport was ranked only 62nd in 2006 in an Airports Council International survey of passenger satisfaction levels despite being the ninth busiest in the world in terms of passengers handled.
Source: The Gazette