With Beijing Capital International airport (BCIA) bursting at the seams, and the city’s second airport to be operational only in 2019 at the earliest, China is using a coordinated approach to manage traffic in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
Last year, BCIA handled 89.9 million passengers, retaining its title as the world’s second busiest airport, well exceeding its design capacity of 82 million. Passenger numbers climbed 4.4% from 2014, and this year the airport forecasts a 2.8% increase. Slowing growth does not denote slowing demand, but the airport's battle to manage growth under the increasing pressure of capacity constraints.
In an interview with Flightglobal, BCIA chairman Liu Xuesong says the airport’s slots between 6am and midnight are completely taken up, and while there are still slots available after midnight, noise concerns from residents nearby prevent the airport from using its third runway after 11pm. Overnight parking stands are also fully utilised.
Resolving this requires a coordinated approach to manage the region’s traffic, says Liu, who is also president and CEO of Capital Airports Holding (CAH). The company manages 43 of China’s airports, including BCIA, Tianjin Binhai International airport and Shijiazhuang Zhengding International airport in Hebei.
“These three airports are all under CAH, so these internal collaborations and policies are easier to manage… we hope that through this, we can move some domestic flights to Tianjin and Shijiazhuang, to satisfy the needs of the Beijing region,” says Liu.
He hopes that more domestic and regional passengers will travel to Beijing by flying into Tianjin, since the two cities are only a 40-minute train ride apart. This will drive greater traffic into Tianjin, while freeing up slots for more international and long-haul services at Beijing.
FREE TRAIN TICKETS
The airport encourages passengers to take the Tianjin route by pointing to lower air fares and also paying for train tickets to Beijing. The initiative seems to be producing results, with passenger numbers at Tianjin jumping more than 20% in the first quarter of the year.
“We have already given the available slots at BCIA to the airlines, so the airlines can reshuffle, transfer their domestic flights to Tianjin, and use their slots at Beijing for international routes,” says Liu.
He adds that about 20% of Beijing’s flights are international, and the target is to raise the figure gradually. The airport wants to grow its connections and hub status, with more long-haul flights to the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
Hebei’s Shijiazhuang airport, about an hour from Beijing via high-speed rail, is to develop as a low-cost base. Spring Airlines has set up a base there, and the airport hopes to attract more budget carriers, both Chinese and foreign, to use Shijiazhuang as a gateway.
The airport is an ideal gateway for tourists who are not pressed for time and who don't mind taking the train to reach Beijing, says Liu . While BCIA is running at overcapacity and Tianjin is short on daytime slots, Shijiazhuang has sufficient slots to meet the demands of these LCCs, and also offer subsidies for take-off and landing charges. As a bonus, the airport also pays for train tickets for Beijing-bound passengers.
LOWER CHARGES AT SHIJIAZHUANG?
CAH is also pushing to have different charges at the three airports, such that Shijiazhuang will be able to entice airlines with lower charges, compared to BCIA.
“All over the world, those already flying to Beijing want more slots while those that don’t want to connect to Beijing. The first thing new domestic airports want is also to build a link to Beijing. So these all put quite a lot of pressure on us,” says Liu.
On Beijing’s second airport, located in the southern suburb of Daxing, Liu says three quarters of the required land has been handed over, and the foundation of the terminal has been built.
Asked whether he sees any complications in having two airports in one city, he says Beijing wants both airports to be big international hubs. One possibility for apportioning traffic is to divide the airlines based on alliances, relieving carriers of the need to have two bases in one city. This, however, has yet to be finalised.
“We are working hard to finish construction of the airport in 2019, and to put it into use thereafter,” says Liu.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
