Beijing shows off new, expensive airport by Delia Cruceru

The world biggest airport will soon open in February 2008. The airport is in Beijing and it was build for impressing visitors in China's capital for the 2008 Olympics. The airport is designed to resemble with a Chinese dragon and its structural plan is homage to the architectural marvel that is the Forbidden City. Thursday it was opened for the first time for cameras and officials released statistics. The new terminal will have 10,600,000 square feet, or 244 acres, or 235 football pitches and will be even bigger than London's Heathrow, bigger than the Pentagon and a bit smaller than the Aalsmeer flower auction house in Amsterdam, currently the world's biggest building, with a cost for building of $2.8 billion. It would handle 48 million passengers a year and by 2012 it is expected to handle 90 million passengers. The building was designed by the British architect Norman Foster and it will have red columns with gold roof to evoke Beijing's imperial palaces and temples from the Forbidden City. A new baggage system designed by Siemens AG for $250 million will handle 19.000 pieces of luggage an hour. "We are now planning a second airport," said Zhang Zhigong, the general manager. "We expect to start work on that in 2010."

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20070912/ap_tr_ge/travel_brief_beijing_new_airport;_ylt=Ap0kggESRZFeM3ENVEYrmQWs0NUE

by Delia Cruceru for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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