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Beijing’s huge new airport, Daxing International Airport (IATA code: PKX), has now opened to passenger flights.
Nicknamed “starfish” after the terminal’s distinctive shape, Daxing International Airport has the largest terminal building in the world. There are four runways and construction of the airport took five years. The airport is designed to handle 72 million passengers per year by 2025, and up to 100 million annual passengers in the long term.
Daxing International Airport is designed to take the pressure off Beijing’s existing Capital International Airport (PEK). Last year, Beijing Capital International Airport handled 101 million passengers, making it the world’s second-busiest airport after Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta, USA.
Daxing Airport is located around 50km to the south of the Chinese capital’s city centre, which is a very long way from Capital Airport. Luckily, there is a new airport express train to connect you to the city.
Having two international airports operating simultaneously could make things a bit confusing and potentially more complicated for travellers, especially if needing to connect between airports. Travellers in cities with two major airports like Tokyo, London and New York currently experience similar issues.
Which airlines are flying to Beijing Daxing Airport?
The airport began commercial flight operations yesterday, and will initially only be used for limited domestic flights. At the end of October 2019, many Chinese airlines will switch some flights away from Capital Airport, including Air China, China Southern, China Eastern, Beijing Capital Airlines, Juneyao Airlines and Hebei Airlines. International carriers British Airways, LOT Polish Airlines, Royal Brunei Airlines will also move their existing Beijing flights to Daxing International Airport. Meanwhile, Finnair is adding a second flight from Helsinki to Beijing Daxing in addition to its existing route to Beijing Capital Airport.
In January 2020, Malaysia Airlines will switch its Kuala Lumpur flights to Daxing Airport and Royal Air Maroc, which will soon join the Oneworld alliance, will commence service from Casablanca to PKX.
China United Airlines has already moved all flights from Beijing’s Nanyuan Airport, which has now closed, to Daxing Airport.
Qantas has not announced any plans to move its 5x weekly Sydney-Beijing flight away from Capital Airport. Air China’s flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Beijing will also remain at PEK.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Beijing Daxing International Airport: China’s new mega-airport ready to open
