The third passenger terminal of the Beijing Capital
International Airport, soon to be operational, has been equipped
with new technologies and facilities to meet the demands of the
Beijing Olympics and increased passenger flows.
Code-named T3, it will help the airport to increase its handling
capacity to 76 million passengers per year from the current 50
million. The airport, built in 1959 and expanded in 1999, was
designed to receive 35 million passengers a year. But according to
official figures, it received more than 52 million in 2007.
Occupying an area of 986,000 square meters, T3 is twice as big
as T1 and T2 combined.
With a length of 2.9km and width of 750m, the terminal has three
functional areas.
Simply decorated, the 300-counter ticket hall is a 30m-tall
bright steel structure. Traditional Chinese architectural
decorative elements were added to its corridors.
The T3E section is especially dedicated to the charter flights
during the Olympic Games. There are 10 boarding bridges, which can
serve more than 20 aircrafts concurrently. Some 60 percent of the
international passengers, including the athletes and officials, are
expected to take charter flights to participate in the Olympics,
due to start on August 8, 2008. After the Olympics, the section
will be used as a waiting hall of international passengers.
To shorten the walking distance, a 4.8km automated path was
installed. In addition, such facilities as toilets for people with
a disability or mothers and infants, have been made available.
The passengers can easily find Automated Passenger Movers (APM)
which operate between T3 and the other two terminals.
T3 has a fast baggage moving facility with a capacity of 20,000
pieces per hour. Its moving speed is as high as 12m per second,
compared with the conventional speed of 0.5m-1.5m per second.
The terminal is equipped with a "single-light guide system", the
first of its kind on the Chinese mainland. The system automatically
sets the taxing routes for every arriving and departing aircraft,
thus saving labor and increasing the operational efficiency of the
airport.
The ground transport center of the terminal is 28km from
downtown Beijing. It takes just 16 minutes to bring the passengers
to the city when the rail system will be in operation in July this
year.
(BOCOG February 13, 2008)