Beijing, China
China has been constructing the largest artificial island airport in the world to solidify the position of the northeastern city as a regional transport hub.
Dalian Jinzhouwan International Airport will be built on an entire island which is spread over an area of 20 sq km (7.72 square miles), as per the website of Liaoning provincial government.
This airport will be bigger than the 10.5 sq km Kansai Airport near Osaka, Japan and the 12.48 sq km Hong Kong International Airport, which occupies artificial islands.
“For Dalian people to say it’s the largest, that’s exactly what it is,” said aviation consultancy founder Li Hanming.
The airport, which is under construction, will work as the port city of Dalian because its location will bring business from nearby South Korea and Japan.
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The city which has a population of more than 6 million is situated on a peninsula at the northern end of the Bohai Strait and has turned into a hub for logistics services, coastal tourism, shipping and oil refineries.
Jinzhouwan was the first airport which was built on an offshore artificial island in mainland China, It will now have four runways and a 900,000 square metre (9.69 million sq ft) terminal, said the website.
It stated that the airport would turn into a “regional air transport hub” with a “superior geographic location”.
All about the new artificial island airport
The airport's terminal buildings will be able to accommodate 43 million passengers every year initially, which is more than double in comparison to the existing airport. Eventually, the terminal's capacity will increase to 80 million every year, as per Airports Council International, which is a global industry group with headquarters in Canada.
It said that every year one million tonnes of cargo will later be able to pass through the airport.
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The council added that Jinzhouwan airport will cost US$4.3 billion and will be ready by 2035.
As of August, “deep foundation treatment” has been completed on a 77,000 square metre reclamation area, according to the provincial government website. It added that they are planning to carry out land reclamation and the foundation of the terminal building that month.
The current Dalian Zhoushuizi Airport had opened around a century ago when it was under Japanese occupation and its design has now reached its capacity after several expansions.
Last year it managed 658,000 people travelling to or from other regions or countries, reported Xinhua.
Li said that pilots were finding it “hard to navigate” since it is in a valley that is “blocked by nearby mountains”, and added that its location can make flights “quite dangerous during adverse weather”.
(With inputs from agencies)