Airport News

Dalian, a city in northeast China, plans to build an airport on a 20.9 square km (8.07 square mile) artificial island to be created off its coast at a total cost of CNY26.3 billion yuan (USD$4.3 billion).

The airport, with four runways, will become one of the world's biggest airports created through landfill, capable of handling the Airbus A380, carnoc said on its website.

Cai Li, chairman of Dalian International Airport, referred to the new airport plan as a "timely move" as the city's existing Zhoushuizi airport will have outgrown its design capacity within five years, according to sohu.

Last year, Zhoushuizi airport, China's 17th busiest, handled more than 14 million passengers, up 5.6 percent from a year earlier, official statistics show.

China's airports in total handled more than 754 million passengers last year, up 11 percent from 2012 and 86 percent from five years ago.

Congestion and delays are only set to worsen as manufacturers estimate one new plane will take to China's skies every other day for the next two decades.

The country is in the midst of a major airport expansion drive, aiming to bring the total number of airports to more than 220 by the end of 2015.