New Beijing airport breaks ground

Construction of Beijing's new airport started on Friday.

The project will cost 79.98 billion yuan (13.11 billion US dollars) and take about five years to complete.

The airport is designed to handle 72 million passengers, 2 million tonnes of cargo and mail, and 620,000 flights by 2025, according to the National Development and Reform Commission, which approved the plan on Dec. 15.

It is expected to meet Beijing's rising demand for air transportation and help achieve balanced development in the capital's southern and northern areas, it said.

The new airport will be built in southern Beijing's Daxing District, which borders Hebei Province.

Beijing International Airport, located in northeastern Beijing, was listed as the second busiest airport by passenger numbers in the world last year, behind Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in the United States.

Due to the limited capacity to handle flights, about 300 flights every day and nearly 10 million passengers each year cannot be handled by the Beijing Capital International Airport, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).