Flying into the future

Light work

A special intelligent lighting system is another part of the design. It eliminates the need to have lights on at certain times, and natural illumination saves energy.

Li said more than 20,000 lights are installed in Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport, while only about 3,000 were needed at the Daxing airport.

Besides energy-efficient lighting, the new airport uses other advanced techniques to save energy. For example, infrastructure such as the rail transit system and runways use energy-saving green materials.

In July 2018, Beijing Daxing International Airport Economic Zone became the first project in China to have the platinum level under the pilot rating system for LEED certification, an internationally recognized standard of energy efficiency. It's also the first such project in the world to gain LEED certification for cities in the planning and design rating system, according to the United States Green Buildings Council.

Completion of the new airport will also have a positive ripple effect on surrounding areas, according to Cui, the municipal development and reform commission's deputy director. He said Beijing's Capital International Airport serves more than 100 million passengers a year, exceeding its maximum operating design limit.

"There exists a large gap in meeting the demand for international airline routes at Capital International Airport. The capital's overall airline service capacity need to be improved," Cui said.

"The Daxing International Airport will further expand and complete the global airline route network in Beijing, making the capital a true international exchange center."

By 2021, the new airport is expected to be handling 45 million passengers a year, and 72 million by 2025. In the long term, it will be able to handle more than 100 million passengers a year, becoming one of the busiest transport hubs in the world.

Under a plan approved in 2016 by the State Council, China's Cabinet, Beijing will cooperate with neighboring Hebei province in building up an airport economic zone with a total investment of more than 200 billion yuan.

The future production value of the new airport will reach 1.6 trillion yuan, the plan said.

The Hebei provincial government also plans to develop several areas of Langfang, along with Gu'an and Yongqing counties－neighboring Beijing's southern suburbs－as the new airport economic zone that will house some of the high-technology functions being moved from Beijing.

Liu Daizong, China transport program director at the World Resources Institute, said it's important to develop some high value-added industries in areas neighboring Daxing to make efficient use of land and promote industrial upgrading.

"Near the airport, industries closely connected to people will become more convenient to approach and able to create greater value with less labor," he said.

He said industries such as parcel delivery, high-end manufacturing and production of electronics should be further developed in the airport economic zone soon, since those industries need a relatively large space to grow up.

The Daxing Airport Area in Hebei Pilot Free Trade Zone, at 20 square kilometers, will mainly build businesses in aviation logistics, aviation technology and financial leasing as it becomes a demonstration area for the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Construction of the airport was completed on June 30, and it is expected to be certified for flight operations on Sept 15.