Chengdu Scales Back Plans for New $11 Billion Airport

Runways reduced from six to three

A new government report has scaled back ambitious development plans for Chengdu’s new airport.

According to the National Development and Reform Commission, the new Chengdu airport, due to be completed by 2025, will process 40 million passengers annually, while processing 700,000 tons of cargo. The airport will be equipped with three runways and a 600,000 square meter passenger terminal.

While the numbers are impressive, they have been drastically reduced from the initial report. The original plan called for 90 million annual passengers and 2 million tons of annual cargo. The airport was supposed to have six runways and four passenger terminals.

At a projected cost of RMB 71.864 billion ($10.934 billion), Chengdu will be the third city in China to have two airports after Beijing and Shanghai.

A total of 50 new airports will be constructed during the next Five Year Plan, thereby kicking off a three-year action plan to develop major transportation infrastructure in China. The National Reform and Development Commission has said more than 300 such projects will be launched between 2016 and 2018.

Airports in Harbin, Shenzhen, Kunming, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi’an and Urumqi have been targeted to be turned into international transportation hubs.

Charles Liu

The Nanfang's Senior Editor