Beijing is considering building a second international airport to cope with the huge number of visitors for the 2008 Olympics, a state newspaper reported today.
Beijing is considering building a second international airport to cope with the huge number of visitors for the 2008 Olympics, a state newspaper reported today.
The idea for a brand new airport to complement the recently renovated Capital Airport was still in the "pre-feasibility study" stage, the
Beijing Morning News
said, citing sources at the aviation regulator Civil Aviation Administration of China.
Authorities have also been considering expanding the existing airport, which has a design capacity of 35 million passengers per year but will run out of room by 2005, the newspaper said.
Beijing is undertaking a raft of projects to prepare for the 2008 Olympics and a war chest of some $22 billion for preparations including new venues for the Games.
Mayor Liu Qi last week unveiled a vision of what people will see at the Olympics, with expanded green space covering nearly half its smoggy city centre and forests blanketing half the metropolitan area and surrounding hills.
All polluting factories must be relocated outside the fourth ring road circling the city - or be shut down.