Beijing airport ranks 2nd busiest in world

Beijing airport ranks 2nd busiest in world

• Source: Global Times
• [08:31 March 17 2011]
• Comments

Passengers arrive at the Beijing Capital International Airport in March 2010. Photo: Wang Zi

By Zhang Hui

The Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) leaped into second place for the world's busiest airport list in 2010, according to the annual report by Airports Council International (ACI) Tuesday.

ACI compiled its preliminary results for last year's passenger traffic, cargo traffic and aircraft movements based on reports from over 900 airports worldwide.

BCIA surpassed London's Heathrow Airport to become the second busiest only after Atlanta, US, which continued to top the list. Chicago's O'Hare and Heathrow ranked third and fourth respectively, according to the ACI report.

Beijing airport's total passenger volume was 73,891,800 last year, and it received over 200,000 passengers and 1,400 flights from 70 airlines every day, according to an airport press release.

"It's pretty obvious that we deserved the ranking of second busiest," Cui Kai, a BCIA news center employee told the Global Times Wednesday. "You can simply tell that from the total passengers last year."

Hong Kong climbed to the top of the list for total cargo traffic, while Shanghai ranked third.

ACI's world director general Angela Gittens said, "While North America and Europe have struggled to reach pre-crisis passenger volumes, Asia-Pacific, Latin America-Caribbean and Middle East sustained a strong momentum and gained market share through double digit growth," according to an ACI press release.

"It's reasonable to think China can continue with double-digit growth for the foreseeable future," Nick Cunningham, an analyst at Agency Partners in London, told Bloomberg Wednesday.