Assessed by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, Dadeng Island has been chosen for building Xiamen’s new airport, which will start construction at the end of 2016 and come into operation in 2020.

The functional area of the new airport, including the airfield, aviation service area and new airport town, covers 46 square kilometers in Xiang’an district.

The project will be in two phases. The first plans to establish two airstrips and a 0.54 million-square-meter terminal building which can accommodate up to 45 million passengers per year. The airport will eventually embrace four airstrips and handling capacity will be up to 75 million people after the second phase.

According to the projected growth in Xiamen’s aviation volumes, Gaoqi Airport is estimated to be handling 230 million people in 2015 and increase to 300 million in 2020, which may overwhelm that airport with just its one airstrip. So the new airport is expected to give subsequent support and come into operation in 2020.

The construction of the new airport will drive the development of aviation and warehouse logistics as well as regional construction in Xiang’an district. Meanwhile offices and tourism infrastructures are also to be be built up step by step.

Edited by Wang Yifei and Brian Salter