New air terminal opened in Beijing

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2008 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

A new airport terminal has been opened today (29 February) in Beijing in preparations for August's Olympics.

The USD3.6bn terminal has a concourse which is almost 3km long and is split into three sections, which are connected by a shuttle train.

According to Reuters the new terminal, which was designed by British architect Norman Foster, has been built to resemble a dragon, with triangular windows cut into the ceiling to represent scales.

The new terminal is likely to increase the airport's capacity from 52 million last year to 76 million and it has nearly twice the amount of boarding gates and almost 300 check-in desks.

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