The passenger throughput of Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) is expected to reach 80 million within this year, said Dong Zhiyi, president and CEO of Capital Airports Holding Company at the China Civil Aviation Development Forum 2012 held in Beijing on May 24.

The overall passenger throughput of PEK over last year arrived at 78.67 million, registering a year-on-year growth of 6.4%. According to the latest data obtained from CARNOC (Civil Aviation Resource Net of China), PEK handled 6.7755 million passengers in April this year and realized a passenger throughput of 25.813 million during the first four months.

The yearly design capacity of PEK is now 82 million since the launch of Terminal Three (T3) and the airport's third runway. With the current growth rate, PEK is faced with the urgent problem of accommodating that growth. A new Beijing airport is scheduled to come into service in 2017, with a future passenger throughput of 100 million, according to Dong. "Of course this is only our anticipation and enterprises do not speak for the government. The project will have to gain approval from the government eventually."

Word is out that the project of the new Beijing airport is now waiting for approval and the Daxing District is now actively collaborating with relevant departments to carry forward some preliminary work, including site selection, regional land control, and research on airport industrial cluster.

Nevertheless, it has remained controversial ever since the proposal of the construction of a new airport. In addition to the already-solved site selection problem, there is dispute about how to allocate operations between the two airports.

Tony Tyler, direct general and CEO of IATA (International Air Transport Association) said at the China Civil Aviation Development Forum on May 23, the current infrastructure at PEK has reached its anticipated capacity and PEK has become the second busiest airport worldwide in terms of passenger throughput. As an aviation hub, Beijing needs to attach great importance to its expansion project.

"The best solution would be expansion on the same geographic site", said Tyler. "Consolidating traffic in one airport creates the most options for connectivity and keeps costs low. But if it is decided that a second location is necessary, then we will need a transparent and clear system for allocating operations between the two airports. This should be decided upon in consultation with the airlines." He also warned about the lost opportunity when international and domestic traffic are artificially separated.