A sneak peek at Beijing's new airport

China is poised to overtake the United States as the world's biggest air travel market by 2022 -- and it's little wonder the country's airport construction craze shows no signs of abating.
中国有望于2022年超越美国成为世界上大的旅行航空市场，但其建设机场的热潮并没有丝毫减弱的迹象。

The government has plans to build or expand 74 airports nationwide by the end of 2020, aiming to accommodate a whopping 720 million passengers a year.
政府计划到2020年底在全国建设/扩建74个机场，旨在每年容纳高达7.2亿次旅客。

No project is attracting more attention than Beijing Daxing International Airport, the Chinese capital's new multibillion-dollar aviation hub slated to open in September 2019.
没有比北京大兴国际机场吸引更多关注的项目了，这个花费数十亿美元打造的新型都航空中心将于2019年9月正式投入使用。

 Beijing is in desperate need of a second global gateway. The existing Capital International Airport is hitting full capacity, making it nearly impossible for airlines to add flights at desirable times.
北京迫切需要第二个国际交通枢纽。现有的都国际机场已经处于满负荷运转状态，因此航空公司几乎不可能再按需增加航班。

More than 95 million passengers passed through the three terminals of Beijing Capital, the world's second busiest airport behind only Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta.
北京都国际机场的三个航站楼的乘客吞吐量超过了9500万次，仅次于亚特兰大的哈兹菲尔德 - 杰克逊国际机场，是世界上第二大机场。

The new Daxing airport, designed by the late architect Zaha Hadid and her Chinese partners, is built for the future, boasting four runways and a terminal the size of 97 soccer pitches upon opening of the first phase.

由已故建筑师Zaha Hadid及其中国合作伙伴设计的新大兴机场是为未来建造的，在第一阶段开放时就拥有4条跑道和97个足球场大的航空站。


The "modest" initial operational target is to accommodate 72 million passengers and two million tons of cargo annually by 2025.
“适度”的初步运营目标是到2025年每年能够容纳7200万名乘客和200万吨货物。

The ambitious master plan calls for the building of a total of seven runways, and moving at least 100 million passengers and four million tons of cargo a year through the airport.
野心勃勃的总体规划需要建造共七条跑道来实现每年至少1亿人次的往返和400万吨货物的容纳。

Construction for the $11.5 billion project began in 2014, with more than 40,000 workers currently on site. The nearly completed terminal bears all the hallmarks of Hadid's signature contour lines, with plenty of natural light shining through rooftop windows.
这个耗资115亿美元的项目于2014年开始建设，目前有超过40,000名工人在现场施工。准备收官的航站楼拥有Hadid标志性的轮廓线条，屋顶窗户可透出充足的自然光线。

  Nicknamed "starfish" by Chinese media for its shape of five concourses connected to a main hall, Daxing aims to reduce walking for passengers, long a complaint against many new mega-hubs.
行走距离长一直是许多大型交通枢纽存在的问题，大兴国际机场为了缩短乘客的行走距离，将五个大厅与主厅连接在一起，因形状与海星相似，中国媒体称其为“海星”。

The airport authority has promised a distance of no more than 600 meters between security checkpoints and the remotest gates.
机场管理局承诺在安全检查站距离远的大门不超过600米。

Another passenger concern is Daxing's location: in the far south of Beijing, a city notorious for traffic jams. The new airport is some 50 kilometers from Tiananmen Square in the city center -- and even farther away from the main business districts in the east and north.
另一个乘客关心的问题是大兴机场的位置：大兴机场在北京南端，因交通拥堵而“闻名”。新机场距离市中心的天安门广场约50公里，离东部和北部的主要商业区更远。

 Officials have brushed aside such worries, claiming they are building more than just an airport -- but rather a truly integrated transportation hub that would see high-speed rail, inter-city services and downtown-to-airport express trains all stopping right beneath the terminal.
称他们并不担心位置不好，因为他们正在建造的不仅仅是一个机场，而是一个真正的综合交通枢纽，高速铁路、城际服务和市中心到机场的快车重点在都在那里。

Yet others say a new mammoth aviation hub will only worsen flight delays in Beijing, already ranked near the bottom of on-time performance list among airports worldwide.
还有人说，在全球机场的准时列表中北京机场几乎垫底，另建一个大型航空枢纽只会加剧航班延误现象。

While there is no indication that the Chinese military, which controls most of the country's airspace, will loosen its grip to give airliners more maneuver room, the airport authority insists Daxing's multi-directional runway design will improve operational efficiency in the air.
虽然没有迹象表明控制大部分中国领空的中国军方将放松控制，为旅客航班提供更大的飞行空间，但机场坚持认为大兴的多向跑道设计将提高空中飞行效率。

  Tenant intrigue
会有哪些航空公司出现在大兴国际机场？

For frequent fliers around the world, though, one big question lingers as the airport's much-anticipated opening approaches: Which airlines will use Daxing?
对于经常在世界各地来回跑的人来说，关心的就是：大型国际机场将有哪些航空公司？

It was going to be a crown jewel for Skyteam, one of the three global airline alliances, with China-based members China Southern and China Eastern becoming anchor carriers at Daxing. Other Skyteam members such as Delta, Korean and Air France-KLM will move to the new airport as well.
全球三大航空联盟之一的天合联盟航空公司、中国南方航空公司和中国东方航空公司将成为大兴国际机场的主要航空公司。其他天合联盟成员，如达美航空、韩国航空和法国航空、荷航也将入驻新机场。

China Southern, however, announced in November that it would leave Skyteam by the end of 2019. The airline subsequently signed an agreement with American, a member of rival Oneworld alliance, for closer cooperation.
然而，南航在11月宣布它将在2019年底退出Skyteam。该航空公司随后与竞争对手Oneworld联盟的成员American签署了一份协议，以加强合作。

Adding another twist to the confusing plot, Air China -- the country's flag carrier and a Star Alliance member -- is supposed to remain at the current Capital International Airport along with other Star carriers, but it recently revealed plans to have a subsidiary based at Daxing.
中国国际航空公司 – 中国的旗舰航空公司和星空联盟成员 – 本应与其他星际航空公司一起留在现有的都国际机场，但近有消息透露其计划在成立一家子公司入驻大兴国际机场。

It seems the airport often called "starfish" is already making waves in aviation news even before its grand opening.
看起来 “海星”在盛大开幕之前，就已经在航空界掀起了层层波澜。