Tianjin Binhai International Airport will launch an expansion project later in 2010, according to the airport authority on Oct. 12. The airport handled some 5.5 million passengers in the first three quarters of 2010, up more than 30 percent from the same period of last year and close to the 5.8 million passengers it handled for all of 2009. It is estimated that the airport will very likely accomplish its objective of handling 7 million passengers in 2010 ahead of time.
Although the first and only terminal at the airport is able to handle 10 million passengers a year, the airport’s handling capacity will reach its saturation point in 2011 because the year-on-year annual growth rates in its passenger traffic all stood at around 30 percent in the past three years. An airport official said that the airport expansion project will soon be launched, including the construction of a new terminal that can handle 24 million passengers a year and will meet the needs of the growing air traffic in the future.
The official also said that along with Tianjin's rapid economic development and the opening up of several new routes in 2010, Tianjin is enjoying increasingly close relationships with domestic and foreign cities, especially port cities around the Bohai Sea. This has brought about a considerable increase in the passenger traffic of Tianjin Binhai International Airport.
