Will China's new hi-tech airport prove to be a flight of fancy? Praised as an architectural masterpiece, it has one small flaw: Nobody wants to fly there

Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport's Terminal 3 opened yesterday with much fanfare and a flight to Mongolia



It cost £612m, covers a staggering 4.3million square feet and can handle 45million passengers a year

Designed by the Rome-based architect Studio Fuksas, it looks like vast white, honeycomb aeroplane

It is also China's first airport with a 10-megawatt solar power plant that could power 10,000 US homes

Also a Soviet aviation museum, Minsk World, and another about Britain's 'colonialist invasion' of the Opium Wars



But the only European airline with flights from the airport is Finnair with one trip to capital Helsinki



And the only flights to the US are cargo planes to Anchorage in Alaska




It's been hailed as an architectural masterstroke and symbol of China's explosion onto the world stage of global travel.

But Shenzhen International Airport's brand-new terminal has a problem: nobody seems to want to go there.



The £612million travel hub opened at 6am yesterday with much fanfare as a Shenzhen Airlines flight took off to next-door Mongolia.

Smiling staff handed out commemorative model planes to passengers on the flight as dozens of golf carts circulated the lounge to give free rides for anyone in need.



But despite claims on its website that tourists can be spirited away to far-flung locations including Sydney, Dubai and Cologne, no airlines actually appear to offer services to or from any of these cities, The Independent reported.

Scroll down for virtual airport tour video...



Vast: The £612million travel hub opened at 6am yesterday with much fanfare as a Shenzhen Airlines flight took off to next-door Mongolia

Quiet: Despite claims on its website that tourists can be spirited away to far-flung locations including Sydney, Dubai and Cologne, no airlines actually appear to offer services to or from any of these cities

In reality, flights only seem to go to regional destinations such as Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.



The only US destination is Anchorage in Alaska - and those flights are all cargo deliveries by UPS and Federal Express - while there is only one direct flight to Europe from Chongqing, and that’s Finnair’s service to Helsinki.



Unlike the largest Chinese cities, Shenzhen does not allow a visa-free stopover.



Local travel: In reality, flights only seem to go to regional destinations such as Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore

Eco-port: The terminal resembles a giant white aeroplane covered in a perforated, honeycomb-like skin of metal and glass that admits maximum sunlight, reducing energy consumption while rainwater is recycled in toilets and used to water indoor plants

Hi-tech: Designed by the Rome-based architect Studio Fuksas, Shenzhen Bao¿an International Airport covers a staggering 4.3 million square feet and is capable of handling 45 million passengers a year

Solar powered: It is also the first airport in China to feature a 10-megawatt solar power plant, which cranks out enough power to support 10,000 US households per month

'One has to wonder who will fly here from outside China, given the choice of flights to Hong Kong and to Macau, both actively promoted in the UK, both nearby and both visa-free,' Neil Taylor, whose travel firm Regent Holidays pioneered travel to China, told the paper. 'Shenzhen had its appeal as a small village when China first opened up in the late 1970s, but tour operators will find it hard to promote now.'

Designed by the Rome-based architect Studio Fuksas , Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport covers a staggering 4.3 million square feet (400,000 sq m) and is capable of handling 45 million passengers a year.



Among it’s tourist attractions is a former Soviet aircraft carrier (complete with fighter jets) called Minsk World. Another is Dapeng Fortress, a battle site during the 19th-century Opium Wars against the 'British colonial invaders'.

Re-usable toilet water: The airport's design reduces energy consumption while rainwater is recycled in toilets and used to water indoor plants

Boom years: The airport's lack of commercial interest is in stark contrast to other travel hubs in China where, in the first 10 months of 2013, passenger traffic rose 11 per cent to 297.6 million

Foreign interest: The boom is in part down to the industrialization of domestic travel but also thanks to increased interest from overseas

The terminal resembles a giant white aeroplane covered in a perforated, honeycomb-like skin of metal and glass that admits maximum sunlight, reducing energy consumption while rainwater is recycled in toilets and used to water indoor plants. Features also include stylised white “trees” that serve as air-conditioning vents.

It is also the first airport in China to feature a 10-megawatt solar power plant, which cranks out enough power to support 10,000 US households per month.

The airport's lack of commercial interest is in stark contrast to other travel hubs in China where, in the first 10 months of 2013, passenger traffic rose 11 per cent to 297.6 million.



Tree vents: Features also include stylised white 'trees' that serve as air-conditioning vents.

Secondary city: But foreign interest mostly concerns the country's major cities and the expected surge of connections from Europe to large 'secondary cities' in China has not materialised

This is in part down to the industrialization of domestic travel but also thanks to increased interest from overseas.

Last week the French airline, Aigle Azur, announced a new link from Paris Orly to Beijing while British Airways this year added a link from Heathrow to Chengdu.