Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, December 05, 2003
Guangzhou's new int'l airport due to operate in June 2004
The New Baiyun International Airport near Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, is due to go into operation officially on June 28, 2004,according to the construction headquarters.
The New Baiyun International Airport near Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, is due to go into operation officially on June 28, 2004,according to the construction headquarters.
The big airport is expected to be completed by February 2004 and its trial operation has been scheduled for April.
So far, 80 percent of investment in the airport has been used. It is estimated to cost 19.6 billion yuan (about 2.36 billion US dollars), 49 percent of which is covered by the Guangzhou Transport Investment Co. Ltd. The first-phase construction will cost about 10 billion yuan (about 1.2 billion US dollars).
The new airport, designed by Parsons Corp. and URS Greiner Corp., both of the United States, and the Guangdong Provincial Architectural Design Institute, can accommodate the world's largest planes, such as Boeing 747s.
It is also equipped with the latest facilities, including thosecapable of handling 10,000 packages per minute. And its terminals will be installed with 180 elevators, escalators, automatic walkways and other passenger transport facilities.
Located in Huadu City, the new airport will cover an area of 1,456 hectares, about four times the size of the existing Baiyun Airport, which is situated in the suburbs of Guangzhou and has long been overburdened by increasing passengers and cargo.
Construction work on the expressway linking the new airport with Guangzhou is close to completion.