World’s largest artificial island airport to rise in China

International

CHINA has proven that it is among the front-runner countries when it comes to creating stupendous projects. And true enough, it is now working on the rise of the world’s largest airport nestled in a man-made island.

The Dalian Jinzhuo Bay International Airport is currently under construction, which will cover an area of 20 square kilometers, surpassing Hong Kong’s international airport which has an area 12.48 square kilometers.

“For Dalian people to say it’s the largest, that’s exactly what it is,” aviation consultancy founder Li Hanming said in a South China Morning Post report.

This huge airport will eventually have four runways and a 900, 000 square meter terminal once completed. It seeks to become the “regional air transport hub.”

But while in construction, the chief engineer of Dalian Airport Construction and Development Co. Ltd., said there are great challenges in establishing the aviation project since it has “complex geological conditions, high drilling difficulty and high demand in quality and tight construction schedule.”

According to state-linked newspaper Yicai, Dalian’s Zhoushuizi Aiport which has been operating for almost a decade, already has reached to its maximum capacity.

Since it is near to the countries of Japan and South Korea, the said airport became a transport hub.

But this aviation hub has expanded several times already to cater all the incoming and outgoing passengers in the city. Which is why the government looked for a site to erect a new airport, way back in 2003.

Dalian Jinzhuo Bay International Airport will cost US$4.3 billion, and its proponents are targeting the year 2035 for the airport to open, and will cater 80 million passengers a year across over 500, 000 flights.

CAPA-Centre for Aviation, a market intelligence agency, said China has been building at least 22 new airports across the country as of July, which has a total combined cost of US$19.6 billion.(LAO)