For more than a decade, Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) has been one of the busiest airports in the world. They handled more than 100 million passengers from 2018 to 2018. Beijing Capital Airport is the hub of Air China and Hainan Airlines, and is also a key airport for Sichuan Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines and Shandong Airlines.
With the opening of Beijing Daxing Airport, and the impact of the new crown epidemic. In 2020, the passenger throughput of Beijing Capital Airport dropped to 34.5138 million passengers, ranking fifth in the country. Now that Beijing Capital Airport has 3 runways of more than 3400 meters, let's take a look at its 63-year history.
Pictured, aerial view of Beijing Capital Airport
Beijing Capital Airport is located in Shunyi District, Beijing, 25.35 kilometers away from Tiananmen Square, the airport covers an area of 34,500 acres, and the flight area level is 4f.
Beijing Capital Airport was not built on a day-to-day scale. Capital Airport was founded in 1955 with a total investment of 79 million yuan to build a new runway, terminal building, aircraft maintenance house and aircraft repair plant. When Beijing Airport opened on March 1, 1958, it had only one small terminal, mainly for VIPs and charter flights at the time. There is a 2,500 metres long runway to the east of the airport.
Pictured, aerial view of Beijing Capital Airport in 1959
In 1965, the Chinese government decided to open Beijing as an international navigation point, so it began a reconstruction and expansion plan with a total investment of 15.32 million yuan. Six new aprons were built. Improved terminals and communication and navigation equipment. Capital Airport became the first airport in China to accept large jet passenger aircraft.
In the 1970s, large jet aircraft and new passenger boarding equipment, moving walkways, baggage carousels and other equipment were widely used internationally. The passenger flow of Beijing Capital Airport has also shown a rapid growth trend. In 1973, the passenger throughput of Capital Airport reached 243,100 passengers. The cargo and mail throughput reached 13,800 tons.
Pictured: At Beijing Capital Airport in 1972, US President Richard Nixon's airlift No. 1 flew to Beijing Capital Airport
Due to the soaring number of passengers, the original infrastructure was soon insufficient. The renovation and expansion of the runway and terminal has been throughout the history of Beijing Capital Airport, and the original runway has undergone two expansions, extending to 3200 meters and 3800 meters respectively. In August 1978, the construction of Terminal 1 was started at Capital Airport, which was put into use in 1984. A new runway can meet the take-off and landing requirements of large aircraft such as boeing 747s. It can handle 1500 passengers during peak periods.
By the end of 1987, there were 59 domestic routes and 24 international routes from Beijing. The passenger throughput was 4.6659 million passengers, and the cargo and mail throughput reached 137,900 tons. After the completion of Terminal 1, Capital Airport has also continuously expanded the terminal and ancillary facilities. Including the modification of baggage sorting equipment and commercial service halls.
Photo: Aerial view of Terminals 1 and 2 of Capital Airport
In 1991, the passenger throughput of Capital Airport reached 8.6997 million passengers, which also exceeded the design capacity of Terminal 1. In October 1995, the construction of Terminal 2 was officially started and put into use in November 1999. The large scale of the building of Terminal 2 and the improvement of supporting facilities were the highest in the construction of civil aviation airports in China at that time. Based on the air traffic volume in 2005, the renovation and expansion project has a new terminal area of 33.6 square meters and a total investment of 9.184 billion yuan.
The expansion also brought the annual passenger throughput of the capital airport to 27 million passengers, with 193,200 annual aircraft landings. The annual cargo and mail throughput is 780,000 tons.
The 2008 Olympic Games were held in Beijing, which ushered in an important construction cycle for Beijing Capital Airport, and new runways and terminals were opened one after another. In 2004, Capital Airport launched its third large-scale expansion project with Terminal 3 as the core. Terminal 3 passenger rapid passage system, ground guidance system, baggage transfer system, and city light rail to front of the building system are the five highlight projects.
The T3 expansion project also builds a new 3800-meter-long third runway on the east side, adding 94 new aircraft slots and a flight area rating of 4f, which can meet the take-off and landing of the Airbus A380. On October 29, 2007, T3 was officially launched. The expansion project also started the construction of the North Cargo Area and the Air China Base, and supported the construction of the transportation system equipment in the site.
This also gives the capital airport the ability to handle 60 million passengers per year, 1.8 million tons of cargo and mail, and 500,000 aircraft take-offs and landings per year. Beijing Capital Airport also became the most important, largest, most complete equipment and busiest large-scale international airport in China at that time.
Pictured, "God's Perspective" large font t3 terminal
In 2010, Beijing Capital Airport became the second busiest international airport in the world in terms of passenger throughput. This title has been maintained by Beijing Capital Airport for 10 years.
Now the capital airport has grown to have three terminals, meeting the annual passenger throughput of more than 100 million passengers. But even so, the capacity limitations of the airport became a major factor in the construction of Beijing Daxing International Airport (pkx).