Watch Video
T3 set to open on Friday
The architect's opinion

A drill in operation in Terminal 3 of Beijing airport on Saturday, six days before its opening. [China Daily]

From the air, it looks like a huge dragon with its wings spread out and its feet placed firmly on the ground.

It indeed is huge because it's double the size of the two existing terminals put together.

To get an idea of how big it is, imagine walking 2 kilometers for boarding a plane after checking in. If even that doesn't sound impressive, here's another one: the roof of the dragon-like structure runs for 3.25 km and is 785 m wide.

This in short is the geometry of Terminal 3 (T3) of Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) that will be thrown open to the public on Friday.

Left: This traditional garden in the middle of Terminal 3 adds Chinese flavor to the sprawling modern structure. Right: A bird's eye view of Terminal 3. [China Daily]

"I've read newspaper reports on T3's size, but seeing it with my own eyes is different. It's larger than any other airport I've been to. The hardware looks as advanced as those in foreign airports," says Han Guangzhao. The 72-year-old retired official lives in Beijing and can count himself as a frequent flyer.

Many of the 8,000 "passengers" express the same feeling after reaching T3 on Saturday.

It can humbly lay claim to the title of the largest airport terminal in the world. Even US national Jeff Martin, who oversaw the installation of Siemens' state-of-the-art, $250-million baggage-handling system, has been on record as saying T3 could "blow the minds of visitors".

"Since the airport's floor space and passenger handling capacity both will increase significantly, it will have little problem dealing with the rush of passengers during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games," says BCIA deputy general manager Huang Gang.

But since the terminal is so huge, it could be difficult for a passenger arriving late to find the right spots to go through all the procedures before boarding a plane. So what should he or she do?

Zhang Li, 25, looks worried and lost as she enters T3 around 1 pm. The Renmin University of China's postgraduate student is flying United Airlines to Chicago that is to depart at 2:30 pm. She is "very late" because passengers taking international flights are expected to reach the airport three hours before departure time.

But it seems Zhang has help on hand - an airport information staff is guiding her toward the D area. It still is touch and go, though, for about 20 passengers are already in the queue before her. She waits patiently for 10 minutes, and realizes it would be too late by the time she reaches the counter to get her boarding pass.