Brand New Beijing Airport – Welcome to Beijing Daxing Airport

Discover Beijing’s New Mega Airport with LTL

The new Beijing Daxing Airport is open and it’s impressive beyond words!

In Chinese the airport is spelt – 北京大兴国际机场 (běijīng dàxīng guójì jīchǎng)

Before we get going, let’s take a look inside Beijing Daxing Airport with Campbell and Max (featuring their helper Bianca)

China generally pulls out all the stops when trying to impress the world with its new structures, whether it be high-speed rail, skyscrapers or now, airports!

Beijing Daxing Airport is absolutely no exception. Inside and out, this airport is a masterclass in design, structure and accessibility, as you are about to see…

Facts about Daxing Airport

Where is Daxing Airport

What to eat at Daxing Airport

Get from Daxing Airport to LTL Mandarin School

Get from Daxing Airport to Beijing City Centre

Beijing Daxing Airlines (as of December 2020)

Facts about Beijing Daxing Airport

Fact #1: Daxing Airport is nicknamed The Starfish

If you’re wondering why the new airport has been nicknamed The Starfish then all you’ll need to do is look at an aerial view of it...

Designed by Zaha Hadid the airport is made up of 5 connecting concourses with bright orange roofs making it resemble a Starfishes’ arms.

Nickname makes a lot of sense now, right?!

Fact #2: Daxing is the world’s largest single-structure airport terminal

At a MASSIVE 700,000 sq metres Beijing Daxing Airport has four runways and 82 departure gates.

If that sounds like a lot of gates to travel through to board your flight, don’t worry it only takes a maximum of 8 minutes to travel to any gate once through security.

So despite the size, the design is purposely efficient, meaning your airport experience is a smooth one, even if you are at the dreaded furthest gate!

Fact #3: The airport code for Beijing Daxing Airport is PKX

Make sure you don’t get the code mixed up with the one for Beijing Capital Airport which is PEK.

Otherwise you’re in for a long journey to the other side of Beijing!

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Fact #4: The new airport cost 80 billion CNY (11.4 billion USD) to build

Yes, that seems like a crazy amount of money, but as Beijing Daxing Airport is expected to become the busiest airport in the world it looks like that investment is going to pay off.

How busy you ask, get this:

45 million passengers are expected to pass through Daxing Airport by 2021, four years later, 72 million will head to Daxing, and around 100 million by 2040.

MIND.BLOWING.NUMBERS

Fact #5: Beijing Daxing Aiport is located 46km south of Tiananmen Square

Although the new airport is located quite a bit further away from central Beijing than Beijing Capital Aiport, a new Airport Express Metro Line means it’s still easy to get to.

Beijing is actually a city built on an axis so the sites such as the Temple of Heaven and Tian’anmen Square are all lined up perfectly in the city of Beijing

If you walked straight, from this exact point, you are given the distances.

Pretty cool feature there from Daxing Airport!

Fact #6: Daxing will have the initial capacity of 300 take-offs and landings an hour

And that’s just the start!

The airport currently has 4 runways with plans to expand to 7.

The airport will make the air traffic in Beijing much more tolerable, with more and more flights coming from PEK to PKX, allowing Beijing to welcome more flights and passengers than ever before.

Where is Daxing Airport?

Daxing Airport is located south of Beijing in the suburb, funnily enough known as Daxing.

The location is quite a distance from the centre of Beijing in comparison to Capital airport which is perhaps more conveniently located in the area of Shunyi (where many International schools and English teachers are based).

Here are some key numbers:

• Daxing Airport is 46 kilometres / 29 miles south from the central point of Beijing.
• Daxing Airport is 65 kilometres / 29 miles south from Beijing Capital airport.
  • NOTE – If you book a flight that means you have to transfer in Beijing from airport to airport BE SURE TO HAVE PLENTY OF TIME (we are talking hours here). The journey is not short and although 65 kilometres does not sound incredibly far, the journey either on public transport or on the road, takes plenty of time.

Daxing Airport is 57.8 kilometres / 36 miles south of LTL Mandarin School, below is a map illustrating the route in a car from Daxing to LTL, which would take an hour (take this figure with a pinch of salt given the inevitable traffic that you will probably stumble across.)

What to Eat at Daxing Airport?

No surprises that Daxing Airport is fully equipped with food and drink of all kinds.

The airport spans over 4 floors in total and each one is equipped with plenty of big hitters giving you plenty of choice.

Daxing isn’t just an airport, it’s a place Beijing wants you to feel comfortable in, somewhere you can actually enjoy your time.

Airports can be stressful, rushed, awkward, and irritating at the best of times, especially in a city the size of Beijing… Daxing Airport aims to take that feeling away.

Here’s some recognisable brands you can enjoy at Beijing Daxing Airport:

• McDonalds
• KFC
• Blue Frog
• Luckin’ Coffee (cashless coffee)
• Starbucks (just the 4 of them)
• Costa Coffee
• Croissant Village
• Ajisen Ramen
• Element Fresh
• Godiva

In fact, the airport hosts over 100 different places to eat and drink so your choices are wide. Enjoy!

How to get from Daxing Airport to LTL Mandarin School Beijing?

• Go to floor B1 of Daxing Airport to get your ticket for the Metro.
• Go down to floor B2 to get on the new Airport Express Metro Line to Caiqiao Station (草桥 Cǎo qiáo) which is on Line 10.
• Take Line 10 to Guomao Station (国贸 Guómào) where you’ll need to change to Line 1.
• Go one stop East on line 1 to Dawanglu Station (大望路 Dàwàng lù) where you’ll need to get off.
• Take Exit B and, turn left and you will pass by KFC, on the first corner, turn left again, you will see Building B (B 座) on your left side.

Price: Airport Express Metro 35 CNY, Caiqiao to Dawanglu 5 CNY
Time: Airport Express about 20 mins, Caiqiao to Dawanglu about 35 mins
Operating Times: Airport Express open 06:00 to 22:30

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How to get from Daxing Airport to Beijing City Centre

NOTE – We are using Tian’anmen Square as the “City Centre” of Beijing.

• Go to floor B1 of Daxing Airport to get your ticket for the Metro.
• Go down to floor B2 to get on the new Airport Express Metro Line to Caiqiao Station (草桥 Cǎo qiáo) which is on Line 10.
• Go one stop east on Line 10 to Jiaomen West Station (角门西 Jiǎomén xī) and change to Line 4.
• Take Line 4 north to Xidan Station (西单 Xīdān) and change to Line 1.
• Take Line 1 two stops east to Tiananmen East Station (天安门东 Tiān’ānmén dōng).

Price: Airport Express Metro 35 CNY, Caiqiao to Tiananmen East 4 CNY
Time: Airport Express about 20 mins, Caiqiao to Tiananmen East about 26 mins
Operating Times: Airport Express open 06:00 to 22:30

Beijing Daxing Airlines

As of early 2020 a number of airlines have moved all flights from Capital Airport (PEK) to Daxing Airport (PKX). This list is constantly changing but as of December 2020, these airlines now all fly to Daxing Airport.

• Aeroflot
• Air Algerie
• Air Asia
• Air Astana
• Air Canada
• Air China
• Air France
• Air Koryo
• Air Leisure
• Air Macau
• All Nippon Airways
• American Airlines
• Asiana Airlines
• Aurora Airlines
• Austrian Airlines
• Azerbaijan Airlines
• Beijing Capital Airlines
• British Airways
• Cambodia Angkor Air
• Cathay Dragon
• Cathay Pacific
• Cebu Pacific Air
• China Airlines
• China Eastern Airlines
• China Southern Airlines
• Chongqing Airlines
• Delta Airlines
• Donghai Airlines
• Eastern Airlines
• Egyptair
• El Al
• Emirates
• Ethiopian Airlines
• Etihad Airways
• Eva Air
• Finnair
• Fuzhou
• Garuda Indonesia
• Grand China Air
• Hainan Airlines
• Hebei Airlines
• Iran Air
• Japan Airlines
• Jiangxi Air
• Juneyao Airlines
• KLM
• Korean Air
• Kunming Airlines
• Level
• Lot Polish Airlines
• Lucky Air
• Lufthansa
• Mahan Air
• Malaysia Airlines
• Miat Mongolian Airlines
• Nordstar Airlines
• Nordwind Airlines
• Pakistan International Airlines
• Philippine Airlines
• Qantas Airways
• Qatar Airways
• Qingdao Airlines
• S7 Airlines
• Scandinavian Airlines
• Shandong Airlines
• Shanghai Airlines
• Shenzhen Airlines
• Sichuan Airlines
• Singapore Airlines
• Sky Angkor Airlines
• Spring Airlines
• Srilankan Airlines
• Swiss International Airlines
• Taag Angola Airilines
• Tajic Air
• Thai Airasia
• Thai Airways
• Tianjin Airlines
• Tibet Airlines
• Turkish Airlines
• Turkmenistan Airlines
• Ukraine International Airlines
• United Airlines
• Ural Airlines
• Uzbekistan Airways
• Vietnam Airlines
• Xiamenair
• Yakutia Airlines
• Zhejiang Loong Airlines

For a completely up to date list please visit the Daxing Airport page. It’s also important to note that some airlines such as Air China operate from both of Beijing’s airports so make sure to check which one your specific flight is operating from.

Beijing Daxing Airport – FAQ’s

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