South China expands hub airport to boost Greater Bay Area development

The Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (Baiyunport) in south China's Guangdong Province has started an expansion project of this major air hub, according to the airport.

The expansion of Baiyunport is a major move in boosting the construction of a world-level airport cluster amid the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development, said the airport.

The expansion includes multiple major sectors of airport operation, such as airfield engineering, air traffic control and fuel supply.

The airport will construct two more runways, which are 3,400-meter long and 45-meter wide, and 3,600-meter long and 45-meter wide, respectively.

Besides expanding the existing two terminals, the project will construct a new terminal, with the floor area of 422,000 square meters.

The expansion project will also add 190 stances for aircraft, as well as construct facilities to help air cargo transport and other operations at the airport.

Baiyunport is one of China's leading air hubs and a major player in Guangdong's civil aviation industry. It has seen six consecutive months of stable increase in all major airport performance indices since March amid the nationwide work and travel resumption.

China's civil aviation authorities have been focusing on creating safe, green, smart and human-oriented airports, with smart airports in a pivotal position.

The T3 new terminal will empower Baiyunport with more smart technologies to better serve passengers and enhance airport operation efficiency. It will introduce 5G, big data, the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) into the airport operation, management and services.

The airport's T3 will become a traffic complex that integrates multimodal transport of air, highway and urban rail traffic.

Baiyunport is designed to have an annual capacity of handling 775,000 flight movements, 120 million passengers and 3.8 million tonnes of air cargo by 2030, with further potential ahead, according to the airport.

The expansion project will enhance the comprehensive capacity of Baiyunport. Then, the airport will have five runways and three terminals, playing the role of a comprehensive air-ground transport system in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Enditem