Beijing airport to open third runway in October

Beijing Capital International Airport is set to expand its take-off and landing capacity by 50 percent in October when it begins trial operations of its third runway.

The RMB200 million runway will raise capacity at the airport from 30 to 90 flights per day according to the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC). The runway will be 3,800 meters long and able to handle Airbus 380, currently the world’s largest commercial airliner a statement on the CAAC website said.

The new runway will alleviate growing congestion at the nation’s busiest airport. In anticipation of the upcoming summer Olympics, expected to bring over 500,000 overseas visitors to China, the additional runway and a third terminal is being completed to bring the airport’s expected handling capacity to 78 million passengers annually. According to the Shanghai Daily, Beijing’s passenger traffic increased 16 percent in the first half of the year to 26 million travelers.

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