A flag-raising ceremony is held by the Civil Aviation Administration of China to mark the first anniversary of the Beijing Daxing International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 25, 2020. The Beijing Daxing International Airport celebrated its first anniversary on Friday. The total passenger throughput at the newly-built airport exceeded the 10 million mark on Tuesday after it began operation last September. (Xinhua/Peng Ziyang)

The upcoming Noida International Airport in Uttar Pradesh, India, which is expected to surpass Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport to become the largest in the country, went viral on social media over the weekend for having used a photo of Beijing Daxing International Airport as its model design, drawing ridicules from both Indian and Chinese netizens. 

The Noida International Airport project was launched on Thursday by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who laid the foundation stone of the first phase. It is scheduled to be completed by 2024 with a capacity of 12 million passenger flows annually, local media reported. 

"By the last phase of development, the Noida International Airport will even surpass IGI and become India's leading airport," said the country's aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia at the ceremony. The final phase is expected to be completed by 2040-50 with a capacity to handle 70 million passengers annually, reports said. 

However, the mega project flopped on Twitter shortly after releasing the news, as netizens found that the concept photo illustrating model design of the airport, which was shared widely among local officials and media outlets, turned out to be the Beijing Daxing International Airport in China's capital. 

"The [Modi's] party cannot make an original design, just a design, how will they build the real structure itself? It's Shame," said one netizen on Twitter. 

"It's extremely shameful," noted another, "Our legends in non-political fields have spent years to make India shine. Don't spoil our nation's image like this just for your political advantage," said another Indian netizen. 

The Beijing Daxing International Airport, which locates in the southern part of the Chinese capital, was put into use in September 2020, and handled nearly 39 million passenger trips the first year. The airport, nicknamed "Starfish," is featured by cutting-edge technology with high efficiency, and is expected to handle 72 million passengers by 2025.

The incident has aroused attention among the Chinese public as well, as some jokingly said that the Chinese can "lend" the design to the Indian government generously and would not mind the mock-up as "it is not the first time that they have done so, especially after Modi took office."

After torrential rains hit the IGI Airport in September, a photo of people pushing a stranded airplane by the wings out of water went viral on the internet, with some commenting that it showed the real "Delhi spirit."

However, it was soon found out that the photo was not taken in India, but in East China's Shandong Province in 2007 when some 20 Chinese airport staff pushed an airplane to a safe area amid heavy rainfall. 

Global Times