Beijing airport will handle about 58 million passengers this year, up from 53 million in 2007, and the total is likely to rise another 10 percent next year, the head of the airport operator's parent company said on Nov. 18.

However, Zhang Zhizhong, president and chief executive of Capital Airports Holding Co, told reporters that combined growth in passengers and cargo in the first 10 months was only 1.6 percent compared with the same period last year.

His company is the parent of Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA), the country's biggest operator, which Zhang said is receiving 1 billion yuan (US$147 million) as part of the government's huge new stimulus plan to refurbish some of the 35 airports it runs across China.

Under the overall 4 trillion yuan plan, China expects to spend 400 billion yuan on airport construction by the end of 2010, state television on Nov. 15 quoted Li Jiaxiang, director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), as saying.

Zhang said the government was likely to select the site of a second international airport for the Beijing area by the end of this year.

He said he hoped construction could start by 2010 and be completed by 2015. Zhang confirmed that Beijing Capital was eyeing a public offering of domestic A shares in 2009, but he said the exact timing was up in the air.

Photograph: A birdview of Beijing Capital International Airport's Terminal 3 in April 2008. Photo by CARNOC.com message board member.