In preparation for a passenger surge during the 2008 Olympics next August, the newly-built No. 3 terminal building at the main airport in Chinese capital has got ready for operation.

"The terminal building will be put to use in two phases. The first phase is expected to start trial operation on Feb. 29," said an official at the Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA).

Upon its operation, the capital airport is to handle 82 million passengers a year, against the present annual capacity of 35 million passengers. But as of December 5, it had already served more than 50 million passengers.

Construction of the new terminal building, part of the expansion project of BCIA, started on March 28, 2004. It covers a floor space of 1 million square meters.

The expansion also include a third runway which can be used for jumbo jets, 125 more plane parking lots, as well as affiliated buildings, a new cargo zone, and zones for special planes and private planes.

The expansion projects, which cost 27 billion yuan (US$3.65 billion), would cover a total area of 1,467 hectares, or 1.6 times the former space.

The third runway at the BCIA became operational in October, and it greatly eased the traffic pressure at the country's busiest airport.

China is also upgrading several standby airports near Beijing for next year's Olympics by renovating terminals, enlarging tarmacs, lengthening runways and improving services.