The Beijing International Airport Authority has announced that the first wave of carriers to move on 29 February to the new Terminal 3 at the Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) will be British Airways , El Al, Qatar, Qantas, Shandong and Sichuan Airlines. A second wave of 26 international and domestic airlines will follow on 26 March.
When fully operational, the capital airport is to carry 82 million passengers a year, against the present annual figure of 35 million passengers. Construction of the new terminal building, part of the expansion project of BCIA, started in March 2004. It covers a floor space of 1 million square meters.
The expansion also include a third runway, 125 more parking bays, as well as affiliated buildings, a new cargo zone, and zones for special planes and private planes.
The expansion projects, which cost 27 billion yuan (US$3.65 billion), will cover a total area of 1,467 hectares, or 1.6 times the former space.