China is building the largest airport in the world

China 24

China is building a mega-airport in Beijing, set to be the largest in the world.

Covering an area of 47 square km (18 square miles), it will serve 100 million passengers and handle 4 million tons of cargo a year on 7 runways

It will relieve some of the traffic and pressure on Beijing’s current international airport.

Located in northeast Beijing, the existing airport is the 2nd busiest in the world.

It served more than 94 million passengers in 2016, just behind Atlanta ‘s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Built to handle 82 million passengers annually, the capacity was surpassed years ago

Located 46 km (28 miles) to the south of the center of Beijing, the new airport is expected to begin operations in 2019.

The shape of a “starfish” or “flying phoenix” can be seen from the sky.

The airport will be connected to Beijing by a high-speed railway with a top speed of 350 km/h (217 mph), as well as an inter-city train and a major expressway.