Beijing Daxing International Airport has opened to commercial passenger traffic with its inaugural revenue service - China Southern Airlines flight CZ3001 Beijing Daxing-Guangzhou - having taken off at 1620L on Wednesday, September 25.

The sprawling new aerodrome will compliment the more centrally located Beijing Capital Airport and provide for additional growth in China's aviation market which is expected to become the world's largest domestic aviation market in terms of new passengers in the next three to six years, IATA predicts.

Daxing currently features four concrete runways, ranging in length between 3,400 and 3,800 metres, and will be capable of handling 75 million passengers per annum by 2025. Thus far, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Juneyao Air, Capital Airlines (China), Hebei Airlines, Donghai Airlines, Spring Airlines, China Postal Airlines, and Okay Airways have already signalled plans to open bases at Daxing.

International airlines planning to serve Daxing include British Airways (BA, London Heathrow), Finnair (AY, Helsinki Vantaa), Himalaya Airlines (H9, Kathmandu), LOT Polish Airlines (LO, Warsaw Chopin), Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur International), Royal Air Maroc (AT, Casablanca Mohamed V), and Royal Brunei Airlines (BI, Bandar Seri Begawan).

In tandem with the new gateway's opening, Beijing Nanyuan Airport, a dual-use civilian/military facility, will close to commercial traffic on September 26 following its only largescale commercial operator China United Airlines' move to Daxing.