Beijing's new flight hub started operations on Wednesday, giving travelers an alternative to the city's overburdened Capital International Airport.

The new airport, dubbed Daxing, is reportedly the biggest airport in the world by surface area. It covers some 70 hectares (173 acres), but its starfish-shaped structure was purposely designed to shorten walking times for passengers.

Daxing was constructed with one terminal and four runways

Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid designed the hub before her death in 2016. The airport took less than five years to build after starting construction in late 2014. Authorities hope it would handle up to 72 million passengers per year by 2025 and around to 100 million upon reaching full capacity in 2040.

At the Wednesday ceremony overseen by President Xi Jinping, Chinese officials hailed it as a "new powerful source of national development."

Xi spoke at the ceremony that comes ahead the 70th anniversary of China's communist state

Billions for airport, more for traffic links

While reports vary on the construction's cost, the AFP news agency reported expenses reached some 120 billion yuan ($16.9 billion, €15.3 billion) for the airport and another 280 billion yuan to build new rail and road links.

Travelers taking an express train from Daxing would take some 20 minutes to reach the city. Daxing is located about 46 kilometers (29 miles) south from Beijing's downtown, which is almost twice as far as the old airport in the city's northeast.

The opening ceremony comes just days before China is set to mark a 70-year-anniversary of its Communist state. China is set to overtake the US as the world's largest aviation market by 2022.

The world's biggest airports Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, Atlanta, US When it comes to passenger numbers, no airport can measure up to the one in Atlanta. Almost 104 million people passed through Hartsfield-Jackson air-traffic hub in 2017, according to data provided by airport association ACI. No other airport has managed to break 100 million. This makes Hartsfield-Jackson number one on our list.

The world's biggest airports Beijing Capital International Airport, China China has its own favorite: Beijing Capital International Airport ranks second in the number of passengers, welcoming 95.8 million people in 2017. The air-traffic infrastructure was built up ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games. UK star architect Norman Foster designed a new, sprawling terminal for the event.

The world's biggest airports Dubai International Airport In 2017, Dubai's airport welcomed over 88 million passengers. Almost all of them were non-Arabs — as many as 87.72 million. Many of them apparently appreciate Dubai International for its almost legendary reputation for shopping.

The world's biggest airports Tokyo Haneda Airport, Japan Alas, the Japanese capital is not in the top three, but its airport still boasts 85.4 million visitors per year, enough for a solid fourth place in our ranking.

The world's biggest airports Los Angeles International Airport, US If you go on vacation to California, chances are you will land at Los Angeles International Airport, better known as the LAX in America. The flow of passengers does not quite measure up to the Atlanta airport, but it still had over 85.5 million visitors last year.

The world's biggest airports O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, US Even in Chicago, there is no rest from fans for German football star Bastian Schweinsteiger. The former Bayern Munich and Manchester United midfielder now plays for Chicago Fire, and frequently flies through O'Hare. Schweinsteiger is only one of 79.81 million passengers who go through the Chicago hub, which is named after an American WWII pilot.

The world's biggest airports London Heathrow, UK London boasts three airports, the largest and most well known of which is Heathrow. It services just over 78 million passengers per year. And it manages all that with just two runways.

The world's biggest airports Hong Kong International Airport, China You don't have to be in a plane to sneak a good look at Hong Kong's competitor, called Chek Lap Kok Airport locally. The compound is similarly impressive from a cable car as it may have been for the 72.67 million passengers who travelled through it in 2017. Hong Kong, or "fragrant harbor" in English, is built on reclaimed land on the island of Chek Lap Kok in the South China Sea.

The world's biggest airports Shanghai Pudong International Airport, China Safety first! One of Shanghai's two airports ranks just behind Hong Kong's. Pudong International Airport served 70 million passengers in 2017. This marks a slight drop from the year before, but cargo flights picked up by over 11 percent, according to ACI.

The world's biggest airports Paris-Charles de Gaulle, France The Paris airport named after President de Gaulle, also known as Roissy airport, comes in at number 10 on our list of busiest air-traffic hubs. Last year, it welcomed 69.47 million passengers. But those figures are not everything in an airport ranking; there are also parameters such as the amount of goods transported, the size, the number of terminals and many more.

The world's biggest airports Berlin-Brandenburg Airport, Germany And then there is the amount of time it takes to actually build an airport. In that respect, the Germans might well be No. 1. Perhaps it's simply a question of definition: The nine years that have so far passed since construction began could be seen as evidence of thoroughness.



dj/ng (Reuters, AFP, dpa)

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