PEK | Beijing Area Airports

[hkskyline]

New airspace routes opened to ease punctuality woes
Updated: 2011-12-16 08:09
China Daily

BEIJING - Airspace authorities opened new flight paths over North China on Thursday as officials look to reduce delays at Beijing Capital International Airport.

Seven fixed flight paths have been cleared for use, while another 13 temporary channels have been created or adjusted.

According to simulations run by the North China Air Traffic Management Bureau, if the number of flights remains the same, the new routes could help punctuality rise at Beijing Capital International Airport from the current 73 percent to 85 percent.

"With new roads in the sky, planes can enter and leave the airport using different paths," said Yan Xiaodong, the bureau's chief engineer. "In the past, planes flying between two cities used the same path, head on, which slowed down traffic flow."

Seventy-four million people passed through the airport's doors in 2010, a figure that is expected to exceed 80 million this year, making the airport the busiest in China and the second busiest in the world in terms of passenger volume.

Last year, the airport handled an average of 1,416 flights each day, up from 611 in 2000.

Li Jiaxiang, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said earlier that the airport is so busy it is very difficult to find slots for new flights.

However, with the extra flight paths, Yan said the capital airport will be able to handle five more arrivals or departures an hour, nearly 600 a week.

"Although the additional capacity can't make delays disappear immediately, the airspace structure is improving," he added.

Passengers say the move is long overdue.

"I encountered delays several times this year," said Sang Jie, a Beijing resident and frequent flier. "We were kept waiting in our seats for an hour or longer before taking off.

"The captain always says it is because of air traffic control. If this happens too often, it's time for the authority to do something."

And it is not just passengers on flights leaving Beijing that will benefit.

In the past, aircraft were sometimes directed to a runway far from parking spots at one of the airport's three terminal buildings. Yan said the new routes will enable controllers to guide planes to runways closer to their gate, meaning passengers will not have to wait so long to disembark.

"A friend of mine told me his flight from Dalian (in Liaoning province) to Beijing took 45 minutes, but the plane took almost an hour to taxi from the runway to the terminal," Yan, the chief engineer, said.

Another official at the North China Air Traffic Management Bureau said that eight routes in and out of Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, had also been opened due to wide concerns about frequent flight delays.

[hkskyline]

Source : http://pic.feeyo.com/posts/553/5538798.html

[hmmwv]

Very nice photo of the C-40B, the missile approach warning sensors are clearly visible. I believe it's on a treasure department flight, bring Geithner to Beijing after his trip to Japan.

[hkskyline]

Source : http://pic.feeyo.com/posts/553/5539983.html

[hkskyline]

Source : http://pic.feeyo.com/posts/554/5548031.html

[hkskyline]

Source : http://pic.feeyo.com/posts/555/5558603.html

[hmmwv]

Beijing's VIP terminal is quite unique.

[hkskyline]

Source : http://pic.feeyo.com/posts/551/5517059.html

[Mr. Fusion]

Hey look there's a jet engine pushing that tug around!

[hkskyline]

Source : http://pic.feeyo.com/posts/556/5566044.html

[hkskyline]

Source : http://pic.feeyo.com/posts/557/5570668.html

[hkskyline]

Source : http://pic.feeyo.com/posts/557/5573857.html

[big-dog]

Beijing to Build World's Busiest Airport

2012-02-25 19:27:08 CRIENGLISH.com Web Editor: Fuyu

Beijing is to build a new airport, which is likely to be the world's largest in terms of passenger traffic, to the southeast of the city, China National Radio reports.

The new airport, yet to be named, is to be located on the border between Beijing and Langfang, a city in north China's Hebei province which surrounds Beijing. It will be approximately 45 kilometers from Beijing's city center; about an hour's drive.

The airport is designed to be a key international airport. It will have nine runways and is expected to direct more than 130 million passengers and 5,500,000 tones of cargo annually, replacing the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States, to become the busiest in the world.

The new airport will also act as a hub, connecting highways, transportation roads and roads in rural areas together.
This will be the third civil airport in Beijing, following the Nanyuan Airport and the Beijing International Airport, which houses Terminal three, the largest building in the world.

When put into use, the new airport will serve Beijing, as well as the nearby Tianjin municipality and Hebei province.

source

[:jax:]

If the site for the suspended MonsterPort is really moving from Daxing to Langfang, that would be big. Such a move would make good sense though. It would be a lot more easy, and cheaper, to connect the three airports (including Tianjin airport), it would be on an existing high-speed, high-capacity line, and it would equally serve the two major cities in the area.

[Jim856796]

Could anyone explain the reason why the North China mega-airport is being developed and constructed again?

[:jax:]

Not developed and constructed, planned (and if the above report is true re-planned at a new location). Reason? The current Beijing capital airport greatly expanded capacity in 2008 with the T3 terminal building and direct airport express link. Now, only four years later, it is at capacity. Supposedly it will be hard to expand it much further, nothing compared with projected traffic growth.

High-speed rail can take some pressure off, but not all.

[chornedsnorkack]

Originally Posted by :jax:

Not developed and constructed, planned (and if the above report is true re-planned at a new location). Reason? The current Beijing capital airport greatly expanded capacity in 2008 with the T3 terminal building and direct airport express link. Now, only four years later, it is at capacity. Supposedly it will be hard to expand it much further, nothing compared with projected traffic growth.

High-speed rail can take some pressure off, but not all.

Or put pressure on.

Which high speed rail line is the Langfang airport on?
Beijing-Tianjin?
Beijing-Tianjin South-Shanghai?
Beijing-Shijiazhuang?

[khoojyh]

http://www.wenxuecity.com/news/2012/02/25/1653241.html

News in Chinese

Location map available in the article but need to further verify.

[Jim856796]

Can this visionary-looking airport become reality in some way or another? I mean, it's supposed to complement the existing Beijing Capital Airport, but I'm worried because it looks like at full buildout (w/ its 8 runways) it may end up replacing the Capital Airport altogether, which will never happen in real life.

[hkskyline]

Source: http://pic.feeyo.com/posts/558/5580096.html