World's biggest airport terminal opens
Beijing airport will be able to handle 76m passengers a year - twice current capacity
By Chua Chin Hon, China Bureau Chief 
DESIGN FEAT: The cutting-edge design of Beijing Capital International Airport's sprawling Terminal 3 is the work of renowned British architect Norman Foster. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
BEIJING - BEIJING yesterday opened its new airport Terminal 3, a stunning dragon-shaped complex designed to wow Olympic visitors from the minute they touch down in the Chinese capital.
The sprawling complex, or T3 as it is known, is the biggest airport terminal in the world. With a combined floor space of 986,000 sq m, it is more than double the total area of the current two terminals at Beijing Capital International Airport.
It will boost the Beijing airport's annual capacity to about 76 million passengers, more than twice the 36 million that the current terminals are designed to handle.
T3 also has twice the number of boarding gates, about 300 check-in desks, and a state-of-the-art baggage system that can handle 19,800 bags per hour.
But like many of the infrastructural showpieces being built for the Olympics in August, the focus is not just on size alone, but also on cutting-edge design that would put Beijing on the architectural world map.
For the T3 project, renowned British architect Norman Foster delivered a design that incorporated traditional Chinese colours and motifs into a high-tech and efficient terminal.
For instance, the triangular skylights which provide natural lighting for T3 resemble the scales on the sloping back of a dragon when viewed from the outside.
Another 'Chinese characteristic' of the terminal is its deep-red pillars and matte gold roof, which recall the colours of Beijing's imperial palaces and ancient temples.
Mr Rory McGowan, a director with Arup, the engineering group that built T3, said the US$3.6 billion (S$5 billion) terminal will set the standard for future airports in China, if not the region.
'I think (T3) will have a big influence on the future design of airports here. Everyone who is going to build an airport terminal in China will be coming here to see what's been done,' he said.
But such an ambitious project may not translate well in countries where construction costs are higher.
Mr McGowan estimated that it could cost more than US$10.8 billion for a Western country to build a terminal exactly like T3.
Beijing, with the help of cheap labour from China's poor hinterland, had the terminal built at a third of that cost. T3's Achilles heel, however, is likely to be the poor service standards that pervade much of the country.
When The Straits Times tried to reach the public relations department of the airport this week, for instance, a staff member said she could not disclose the phone number as it was a secret.
But passengers and tourists at T3 yesterday had few complaints, and unanimously gave the terminal the thumbs-up for its elegant design and helpful staff.
'I like the new terminal very much as it is so spacious, and yet user-friendly,' said Mr Liu Gang, a passenger on the first flight to land at T3, which flew in from the eastern Jinan city in Shandong province.
Six airlines, including British Airways and Qantas, began operations in the new terminal yesterday. Another 19 airlines, including Singapore Airlines, will move into T3 on March 26, officials said.
Beijing yesterday also gave a sneak peek of its new subway line - Line 10 - that will operate from June to help ease the Chinese capital's notorious traffic jams. The city is served by five subway lines now, but will have eight lines by August.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Sto...ry_211834.html 
World's biggest airport terminal opens 
Re: World's biggest airport terminal opens 
Linear Mode
