Dalian Jinzhouwan International Airport

Dalian Jinzhouwan International Airport is an airport being built to serve the city of Dalian in Liaoning Province, northeast China. Once open it will replace the existing Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport as the city's main airport. It is being built on 21 square kilometres (8.1 sq mi) of reclaimed land off the coast of Dalian. Expected to open sometime in 2019 or possibly later, it is set to become the world's largest offshore airport.

Background

Dalian is currently served by Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport, which has been used for both military and commercial flights since 1924 when Dalian was Japan's leased territory. As air traffic skyrocketed, the airport was expanded four times, in 1992, 1993, 2005, and 2011, and served more than 13 million passengers in 2012, ranking 15th in China. Because of the expansion of the city of Dalian, the airport is now surrounded by built-up urban area and has no more room to grow even though it is expected to reach its capacity in 2016. As a result, the authorities launched the new Jinzhouwan Airport project, which was included in the 12th national five-year plan in 2011.[1]

Construction

The airport project was officially announced in 2012, but construction had already begun in April 2011. It is being built on 21 square kilometres (8.1 sq mi) of reclaimed land[2] in Jinzhou Bay (Jinzhouwan, 金州湾),[1] off the coast of Dalian, and is set to become the world's largest offshore airport.[2] It is designed to handle the Airbus A380, the largest passenger jet, and is projected to cost 26.3 billion yuan (US$4.3 billion) to build.[2] The airport was expected to open in 2018, however it has been delayed with no updated schedule, and will become China's first airport built on an artificial island.[1]

In 2014, Chinese media reported that the airport had not received the necessary approval from the national government, even though construction had already begun three years prior to the announcement.[2][3] Some experts criticized its cost, warning that the cost of constructing and maintaining runways on reclaimed land could be 20 times more than inland airports.[2]

Facilities

The airport is being built in two stages. The first stage comprises a 400,000-square-metre (4,300,000 sq ft) terminal building and two runways, and is designed to handle 31 million passengers and 650,000 tons of cargo per year. Two more runways will be built in the second phase (class 4F), and once completed the airport will have the capacity to handle 70 million passengers a year, as well as 1 million tons of cargo each year.[1]