The Beijing Daxing International Airport Photo: IC

Photo: VCG

Beijing's new mega "starfish" airport witnessed its first international flight on Sunday as China Eastern Airlines conducted a flight from Beijing Daxing International Airport (BDIA) to Fukuoka, Japan on Sunday morning. 

The new airport, which has been put into operation just one month ago, now welcomes more carriers to transfer their flying capacity here.

Fifteen carriers will be operating in the new airport this winter, including eight from overseas carriers, such as British Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Royal Brunei Airlines, Royal Moroccan Airlines, Effie Airways and Himalayan Airlines. In addition, Polish Airlines and Finnair will fly in both airports in Beijing, BDIA said. 

The airport is expected to open 119 routes, including 15 from overseas, and the total fleet volume will be 43,000, with the daily fleet volume of 279. The airport is expected to transport 5.39 million passengers during the winter season, the BDIA added.

China Eastern, together with China United Airlines, will fly 153 flights per day, accounting for 50 percent of the total flight volume in the new airport, making them the airlines with the largest flying capacity during the winter season.

"We will first transfer 10 percent of the flying capacity from Beijing Capital International Airport to the new airport, including four international flights, and next year we will move more capacity,"  Liu Hao, vice general manager of China Eastern Airlines Beijing branch told the Global Times on Sunday morning.

The carrier said it will move 80 percent of the flights in Beijing to the new airport by March 2021, making the hub the core base of SkyTeam in Asia. 

Private airline Juneyao Air also plans to offer three flights between Shanghai and Beijing's new mega airport per day with 1,700 available seats.
Newspaper headline: First international flight leaves Daxing airport; more carriers plan to shift capacity