SHENZHEN International Airport will start work on its third runway ahead of schedule to meet the increasing demand of both cargo and passenger planes.
At a meeting Oct. 27, the city’s legislature adjusted the budget for 2015 by arranging 11.2 billion yuan (US$1.77 billion) for a land-reclamation project for the construction of the third runway and Terminal 4.
Passenger turnover at the Shenzhen airport is expected to hit 40 million this year and 45 million in 2017, the full capacity of Terminal 3, three years earlier than originally planned.
The 3.6-kilometer-long and 60-meter-wide runway, to be built on the land reclaimed from the sea, will be completed in 2018. Shenzhen will also start construction of the Automated People Mover system, which will link Terminal 3 and the future Terminal 4.
Work on the underground system for Terminal 3 and Terminal 4 will also start in 2018 and be completed in 2020, according to the airport’s plan.
According to Wang Bingran, general manager of the strategic planning department of Shenzhen Airport Group Corp., research on Terminal 4 will start before 2020. The new terminal will be completed in 2025, with a capacity of 52 million passengers a year.
Shenzhen is in contact with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) to improve the Shenzhen airport’s position in the CAAC’s 13th five-year program. Shenzhen now is treated as an airport for main air routes instead of an air transport hub. If it is upgraded to a regional air transport hub, the airport will get resources to open more international routes.
“The Shenzhen airport has started its plan to open more international routes. International passenger turnover will account for 10 percent of total passengers by the end of the 13th five-year program in 2020,” said Long Qiang with the aviation business department of Shenzhen Airport Shareholding Co.
The city is trying to build a four-hour “aviation circle,” which covers Southeast Asia, South Asia, East Asia and West Asia, and a 12-hour circle that covers major cities in the world.
