Beijing Capital International Airport Now the World's Second Busiest

Steven Schwankert | Apr 3, 2014 11:00 am | 4 comments | 4331 reads

Beijing's Capital International Airport (BCIA), which established itself as the world's most delayed airport in July 2013, at least has a bit of an excuse – it is the world's second busiest airport, behind only Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, according to Airports Council International.

Almost 84 million passengers departed from or arrived at BCIA's three terminals, a 2.2 percent increase over 2012, a rate of growth slower than the global rise in aviation traffic of 4 percent. That's not far off a quarter-million air travelers per day, just in and out of Beijing. Wow.

That growth came during a year that saw tourist arrivals drop by more than 10 percent, and BCIA's ignominious distinction regarding delays.

Get used to the crowds and the delays. Beijing's new airport, currently under construction south of the city, won't be ready until October 2018.

Photo: Mister Top Ten

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Re: Beijing Capital International Airport Now the World's...
Posted Apr 3, 2014 1:23pm by Steven Schwankert

Terminal 3 reached capacity in about four years, which is about half the time in which it was expected to do that.

Are they sure loosening the one-child policy is a great idea?

Re: Beijing Capital International Airport Now the World's...
Posted Apr 3, 2014 1:08pm by admin

what's even more shocking is passenger volume at BJS has doubled in 8 years

here's the list of airport passenger growth since 2005 (of those airports that are on both lists):

1. China Beijing Capital International Airport     +104%
2. Singapore Singapore Changi Airport     +66%
3. Hong Kong Hong Kong International Airport     +48%
4. United States San Francisco International Airport     +35%
5. United States Miami International Airport     +31%
6. United States Denver International Airport     +21%
7. United States John F. Kennedy International Airport     +20%
8. Netherlands Amsterdam Airport Schiphol     +19%
9. France Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport     +15%
10. Germany Frankfurt Airport     +11%

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Re: Beijing Capital International Airport Now the World's...
Posted Apr 3, 2014 11:43am by tomarnstein
(Reply to a previous comment)

Good spot, mtnerror. It does appear that Beijing International Capital Airport has in fact been the second busiest airport since 2010, rendering the title of this blog post misleading. Correction noted.

Managing Editor, the Beijinger

Re: Beijing Capital International Airport Now the World's...
Posted Apr 3, 2014 11:23am by mtnerror

But wasn't PEK 2nd-busiest last year, or even earlier than that? "Now" in the title implies this is new, but is it?