Beijing aims for new air travel, freight milestones by 2030

BEIJING -- Beijing is targeting ambitious milestones for its two major airports, namely Beijing Capital International Airport and Beijing Daxing International Airport, and is seeking to achieve these milestones by 2030, local authorities have said.

By 2030, combined passenger throughput of these two airports is projected to exceed 160 million, while their total freight and mail throughput is set to surpass 2.5 million tonnes.

Lai Xianyu, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission, said during a news conference held on Tuesday that over the next five years — efforts will be intensified to enhance connectivity between these two airports and major global aviation hubs, important capital cities and partner countries of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Construction of the satellite hall project at the Daxing airport will start soon and its development is set to boost the airport's international passenger capacity, Lai added.

In terms of service improvements — measures will be implemented to further shorten flight cut-off times and the duration of ground taxiing, streamline and optimize customs clearance procedures, and strengthen capacity for transfer and transit transportation. Efforts will also be made to refine development of the surrounding business area.

Currently, these two airports offer routes to over 120 destinations in 64 countries and regions, leading the country in terms of breadth of route coverage.

In 2024, the combined air passenger throughput of these two airports had reached 117 million — setting a new record.

Also, Beijing saw 4.85 million inbound and outbound foreign travelers in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 125 percent.