BEIJING Capital International Airport may buy assets of the third terminal from its parent, BCIA group, when conditions mature, group General Manager Zhang Zhizhong said in yesterday's China Securities Journal.
"The expansion of the airport needs an investment of 27 billion yuan (US$3.76 billion) and several billions of investment for auxiliary facilities," Zhang said.
"The listed arm of the group in Hong Kong is considering buying the assets of the third terminal." He added that the company was performing an assets assessment on the third terminal.
Expansion of the pivotal airport started in March, 2004 as part of Beijing's Olympics preparations.
The expansion project includes the construction of a third runway, a new terminal building, 100 new aircraft parking spaces, a cargo zone and some auxiliary facilities.
The airport, China's busiest, handled 53.47 million passengers last year, putting it among the world's 10 busiest.
The third terminal will start operation on February 29, with an area of 986,000 square meters, more than doubling the current two terminals' total area, said Zhang Guobao, head of the leading team in charge of the expansion project, on Wednesday.
With three terminals and three runways in operation, the airport's capacity will be 82 million passengers annually and 1,700 flights per day, according to the airport.