Daxing Airport Terminal

The Largest Single-Structure Airport Terminal in the World
 

The Impressive Daxing Airport Terminal Building

The colossal new Beijing airport, Daxing International Airport has officially opened at September 30. The much awaited grand opening of the airport revealed an outstanding terminal building, the second biggest of the world after the New Istanbul Airport’s Terminal. In the future, a second terminal (South Terminal) is planned to be constructed as the annual airport’s passenger traffic is projected to rise to more than 100 million in the long run.

The Unique Design of Daxing Airport Terminal

The terminal building of the new airport is the “child” of the late architect Zaha Hadid and bears all the qualities of her work. The Starfish of Beijing as it is often called because of its shape covers a 1.000.000m2 area and has a large central space and 5 “tentacles”, resembling a giant “octopus”. Its golden roof has scattered windows allowing natural light to illuminate the whole place.

The concept behind the design of the Terminal is to separate the arrivals from the departures. Thus, there are two levels serving the arriving flights, both domestic and international, and two more, handling the departure airport duties. Hence, a single terminal building is able to cover the needs of a large number of passengers, making the airport’s services more effective and economical.

The passengers have the possibility to navigate through the central area where all the shops and the provided facilities are located and then, head to their departure gate, situated in one of the corridors. Amazingly, despite the huge size of the airport, the walking distance between the core center and each gate doesn’t exceed 600 meters. Passengers can shop and wander around care-free, knowing that their gate is only 8 minutes away maximum. 

The Innovations of the New Terminal

Daxing airport pioneers the use of double-deck departure and arrival platforms and is equipped with latest-technology services such as facial-recognition equipment and baggage-tracking systems. Aiming to be one of a kind, the new airport could only be extremely environmentally friendly. Low-carbon policies, solar panels and systems collecting the rainwater in order to further use it, are only some examples of the general philosophy that inspire the airport’s operation.

What’s more, the whole design of Daxing airport is sparked by Chinese tradition and culture. Typical Chinese touches will be combined with futuristic elements while five outdoor traditional Chinese gardens adorn the five corridors. The airport shape, after all, can easily be compared to a giant phoenix, a very characteristic Chinese symbol.

Lastly, below the terminal, an enormous transportation hub is located featuring the airport’s train and subway stations. In the foreseeable future, a City Terminal will be constructed at Lize Financial Business Area. Once finished, the passengers using the terminal in question will have the possibility to directly check-in there and hand their luggage which will be directed straight to the airport.

Additional Information

  • At Daxing airport, speed is everything. 5-G based technology and “smart” services eliminate waiting time. Facial recognition procedures make paper tickets useless while 400 self-service points make checking-in a breeze.
  • Self-service baggage process is also applied to optimize the travel experience.
  • You can track your luggage with the “e-tags” technology.

FAQs

What’s the main advantage of Daxing airport terminal building?

Despite being the second biggest terminal in the world, the Daxing airport terminal primarily caters to the passengers’ convenience as the maximum distance from the central hub to each gate is only 600 meters or an 8-min walk.

What’s the Daxing airport’s terminal layout?

Briefly, the two basement levels of the airport host the transportation hub (Daxing train and subway stations) while the first two levels house the arrivals (international arrivals in the first level and domestic arrivals in the second). On the third floor, you will find the domestic departures, and finally, the fourth level is dedicated to international departures.