Chinese regulators have approved the construction of a new $11.2bn airport in Chengdu to cater to escalating passenger traffic, marking the second massive airport investment within a year.
The new Chengdu airport will boast three runways and will be capable of serving 40 million passengers a year, in addition to 320,000 take-offs and landings annually, the Sichuan Daily reported.
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Featuring a 520,000m² terminal complex, the airport will also be able to handle the world’s largest passenger aircraft such as the Airbus A380.
With construction anticipated to start by the end of this year, the airport is set to be ready by 2025.
The latest plans would also make Chengdu as the third major mainland city in China to host a second airport, following Beijing and Shanghai.
Claimed to be the fifth busiest airport in China, Chengdu’s existing Shanghai International Airport serves as a hub for inland destinations for carriers, including Air China, AirAsia X and Korean Air Lines.
In a bid to deal with fast-growing aviation sector, China is working on easing congestion at major airports, which is leading to prevalent delays and increasing passenger frustration.
Further, the country is expanding its airport capacity, with multi-billion plans to construct new gateways to serve Beijing and Dalian already outlined.
China has seen a rapid passenger traffic growth rate, with its airports catering to over 754 million passengers in 2013, up 11% from 2012 and 86% from the past five years.
Last month, China also began construction on a $14bn international airport with a capacity to handle 72 million passengers and two million tonnes of cargo a year.
