The East Terminal, T3A terminal, of Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport is expected to put into operation this June, Chongqing Daily reported on March 23.

Construction began in 2013 and the T3A terminal project includes a China Eastern Airlines station area, a third runway, and a 530,000-square-meter new terminal building, which is 3.5 times as large as the existing T1 and T2 terminals.

The terminal’s ceiling is a crisscrossed metal structure. [Photo/liangjiang.gov.cn]

Major construction at the T3A terminal is nearing completion, with the signs in the departure lounge finished. Once the terminal is put into operation it will create an airport with three runways, a 730,000-square-meter terminal, and local officials estimate 20 percent of China’s domestic air traffic will pass through the airport. The airport is designed to accommodate an annual passenger throughput of 45 million trips and a total cargo and mail volume of 1.1 million tons.

A passenger plane taxis on the runway at the Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport. [Photo/liangjiang.gov.cn]

The new runway will be capable of landing the world’s largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380. The airport will further add 94 parking slots, more than doubling parking availability.

The T3A terminal building utilizes architectural design features and logistics infrastructure that are unique in Asia; for example, it will be the first airport in China to use a fully automatic baggage check-in system with 32 automatic machines.

A worker paints an air-bridge at the T3A terminal building of the Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport on Aug 18, 2016. [Photo/liangjiang.gov.cn]

Edited by Tyler Terrance Oneil