Qualla: Beijing Daxing International Airport

Beijing Daxing International Airport: Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JULIANISME, CC BY-SA 4.0. On 25 September 2019, six days before the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, President Xi Jinping opened an airport that had not existed five years earlier. Beijing Daxing International Airport sprawled across 47 square kilometres of land on the border of Beijing and Langfang, Hebei -- a facility so large it earned the nickname "the starfish." Its terminal building, at 700,000 square metres, was the world's largest single-building airport terminal. The project cost 80 billion yuan for the airport itself, with peripheral infrastructure pushing the total to 450 billion yuan. The first commercial flight, an Airbus A380 operated by China Southern Airlines, departed later that afternoon.

Image: JULIANISME | CC BY-SA 4.0

Beijing Daxing International Airport: The Problem of Success

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Siyuwj, CC BY 4.0. Beijing needed a new airport because its existing one was too popular. Beijing Capital International Airport handled 83 million passengers in 2013, making it the second busiest in the world. The capital's explosive growth had overwhelmed a facility that, despite three terminals a...

Image: Siyuwj | CC BY 4.0

Beijing Daxing International Airport: Six Curved Spokes

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0. The terminal building was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and French planners ADPI, then executed by the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design. The concept: a central hub with six curved spokes radiating outward, creating a form that is organic from the air and efficient on...

Image: N509FZ | CC BY-SA 4.0

Beijing Daxing International Airport: Dividing the Sky

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Siyuwj, CC BY 4.0. The opening of Daxing split Beijing's aviation world in two. The Civil Aviation Administration of China directed SkyTeam alliance airlines -- led by China Southern and China Eastern -- to relocate to Daxing, while Star Alliance carriers, anchored by Air China, remained at Capital...

Image: Siyuwj | CC BY 4.0

Beijing Daxing International Airport: Twenty-Eight Minutes

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit 1969社论, CC BY-SA 4.0. Daxing sits 46 kilometres south of Tiananmen Square, but the distance is measured in minutes, not kilometres. The Beijing-Xiong'an intercity railway, running at 250 kilometres per hour, connects Beijing West railway station to the airport in 28 minutes. The Daxing Airport Express...

Image: 1969社论 | CC BY-SA 4.0