On September 25, Beijing opened the new Daxing International Airport, designed by a well-known Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. It is currently the largest one in the world, with an area of 700,000 square meters, which is enough to fit 98 football fields.
Daxing has four runways and parking spaces for 150 airplanes. Seven airlines operated flights from the new airport on the opening day. Some international airlines, including British Airways, have already announced flights to Daxing.
The airport cost China 11,7 billion dollars, and it officially opened just days before the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. Even the Chinese leader Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony. According to the International Airport Council, Daxing will be the second busiest airport in the world after Atlanta. The Daxing airport will be able to handle up to 130 million passengers a year.
When it comes to features, we can expect the most advanced tech solutions currently available on the market. First of all – the comms, or “communications”. 5G, which is a hundred times faster than 4g, is more than just a thing everyone talks about there, it’s actually live and working.
But the coolest feature of this airport is its smart security and surveillance system which relieves the passengers from carrying their boarding passes during security checks, as the airport is equipped with a new facial recognition system. Some say it’s too creepy, but when’s the last time anyone tried to hijack a plane in China? That’s right, probably never.
If you ever get a chance to visit Daxing, please tell us if it’s really all that hi-tech or if they’re just blowing smoke in our faces.
