Chinese authorities plan to allocate Beijing's second airport to SkyTeam alliance airlines, which include China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines, the largest and third-largest carriers in China, according to an internal document from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

According to the document, flights will be split between the new airport and the current Beijing Capital airport according to airline alliance. The SkyTeam members that currently operate out of Beijing Capital International Airport will move to the new airport in Daxing district; while Star Alliance's Air China and its subsidiaries will remain at Beijing Capital airport.

Under this plan, China Southern and China Eastern will account for 40% of total annual passenger volume at the new airport, respectively. The rest 20% will be contributed by Shijiazhuang-based Hebei Airlines, Beijing Capital Airlines, China Postal Airlines and etc.

However, it remains unknown whether the nation's fourth largest carrier Hainan Airlines will be shifted to the new airport. The Haikou-based carrier operates domestic routes out of Beijing Capital Airport's Terminal 1 and international routes out of Terminal 2.

The regulator said it is allowing China Eastern and China Southern to build their own infrastructures at Beijing New Airport based on their respective passenger boardings.

In addition, both carriers can take four years as a transition period to transfer all domestic and international routes to the new airport and enjoy some favorable policies and support in areas including international traffic rights, slots allocation, airport charges and ground handling.

Last September, China Southern and Beijing Capital International Airport Co., Ltd. (BCIA) signed a framework agreement on its base construction at the city's new airport.

According to the agreement, the Guangzhou-based carrier will become a main carrier based at the new Beijing airport. And it will deploy up to 100 aircraft at the new Beijing airport in 2019 and increase its fleet to 150 aircraft by 2025.

The 80-million-yuan Daxing airport, currently under construction, is expected to be completed by 2018; formal operations are scheduled to begin in 2019.

The new airport -- which is expected to serve Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei -- will be able to handle an annual passenger volume of 45 million in 2020, 72 million in 2025 and 100 million in the longer term.

Local industrial analysts said Air China was the big winner from Beijing's decision while China Eastern would be negatively affected as it has a 50% market share on the most profitable domestic business routes from Beijing (capital airport) to Shanghai.

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