Xiamen airport starts building new terminal

Xiamen, a port city that faces Taiwan across the Strait, began building a new airport terminal Saturday amid a passenger surge. The new terminal building, scheduled to be completed in June 2014, is designed to handle an annual throughput of 27 million passengers, more than twice the 2010 volume of 13.2 million, airport authorities said. The new terminal is part of Xiamen Gaoqi Airport's expansion package, which also includes a logistic center, new parking aprons, a new runway and garage. The entire project will cost 4.17 billion yuan (653 million U.S. dollars). Xiamen's Gaoqi Airport, which opened in October 1983, reported a 16.6 percent passenger surge in 2010 thanks to the booming tourism industry fueled by the increasing exchange of visits between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan. "The new terminal building will meet the short-term demands from the growing aviation market and create a more comfortable environment for the passengers," said Chen Bin, deputy general manager of Xiamen International Airport Group. In the longer term, Xiamen hopes to start building a new airport in 2013. The planned Xiang'an Airport, which is scheduled to open in 2019, will have three 3,600-meter long runways, accommodate more than 200 jets and handle more than 30 million passengers annually.