Roses bloom: What will the construction of a second airport in Guangzhou bring?

>Rose flowers bloom: What will the construction of a second airport in Guangzhou bring? On July 30, the fourth meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th Guangzhou Municipal People’s Congress...

Roses bloom: What will the construction of a second airport in Guangzhou bring? At the fourth meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th Guangzhou Municipal People’s Congress on July 30, Chen Jianhua, deputy secretary of the municipal party committee and mayor, proposed that Guangzhou should start planning and building a second airport in the south. It was also revealed that the National Development and Reform Commission had approved the expansion project of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in late July and is scheduled to start construction in August. Against the background of the continued downturn in the world economy and the slowdown of the domestic economy, Guangzhou is expanding Baiyun International Airport for the third time and building a second airport in the south. What impact does this herald on Guangzhou's economic structure? Well-known netizen Shang Yi believes that if Guangzhou builds an international airport in the south with an annual throughput of 40 million passengers, plus the passenger terminal (cruise port) of Nansha Seaport and the west coast high-speed rail (Shenzhen-Mao Line), it may be able to handle 50 million passengers. The formation of such a transportation hub, the increase in popularity, and the concentration of logistics will definitely drive the development of the entire region, and the city will gradually take shape. Theme parks like Panyu Chimelong and Xiangjiang, coupled with the film and television city project, and artificial beaches, will attract tourists. University projects and commercial projects in cooperation with Hong Kong, as well as industrial projects, are also gathering people and attracting surrounding people to work and settle in Nansha. But all of these are inseparable from convenient transportation. The largest infrastructure and maximization of supporting facilities is the construction of an international airport. According to preliminary information, under the complex situation of the global economic downturn in recent years, Guangzhou Baiyun Airport has bucked the trend and has shown a rising momentum. The airport's throughput has experienced a "triple jump" in seven years, making it one of the fastest-growing airports in the world in recent years. In the year of transition in 2004, the passenger throughput was only 20 million. Subsequently, the passenger throughput increased at a rate of 10 million every three years. By 2010, the passenger throughput of Baiyun Airport had once again upgraded to exceed 45 million. According to the ranking of global airport passenger traffic, Baiyun Airport has been promoted to the top 20 in the world in 2010. With the continuous increase in passenger throughput, the expansion of the airport has become urgent. Once the expansion project is completed, Baiyun Airport is likely to achieve an annual passenger throughput of 80 million passengers in 2020. However, the expanded Guangzhou Baiyun Airport may not be able to efficiently afford future growth. Therefore, people in the civil aviation industry have long suggested that if Baiyun Airport wants to truly become bigger and stronger, expansion is no longer the best option, and it should consider building a new airport in the south. Because there is an international practice, after a large airport develops to a certain level, it will consider building a second or even a third airport to create a scale effect and maximize benefits. After reading some information, I learned that the first phase of the Guangzhou Baiyun Airport project was designed according to the standard of 25 million passenger throughput. After expansion, the maximum passenger throughput it can withstand is 35 million. By the end of 2011, the passenger throughput of Baiyun Airport had exceeded 45 million. Zhang Kejian, chairman of Baiyun Airport, said that looking at major international airports, the passenger throughput has reached 80 million to 90 million passengers/year or even hundreds of millions of passengers/year, and their operating efficiency has been maximized. If the passenger throughput exceeds this number, the airport's operating efficiency will decline, and a second airport and a third airport should be built nearby. In this regard, the top leaders of the Guangzhou Municipal Government have not made a clear stance, but speculation among the public continues. Some experts once suggested building Guangzhou's second airport in Dagang Town, at the junction of Panyu, Nansha, Zhongshan, and Shunde, believing that it could radiate to southern Guangzhou, Shunde, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, and western Guangdong. Peng Peng, vice president of the Guangdong Provincial Institutional Reform Research Association and a researcher at the Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences, believes that building a commercial airport in Nansha is more realistic, "because the density of international airports in the one-hour urban agglomeration of the Pearl River Delta is already too high." Some experts also said that building an airport in Nansha is an "eastward" strategy for Guangzhou's economic development, but this will cause Baiyun Airport to be farther and farther away from the central city. On the day when the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport expansion project is about to start, the Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress has put the second airport construction project on the agenda. This reflects the rapid development of the Pearl River Delta aviation market. This is good news for all walks of life in Guangzhou. The rapid development of the aviation industry will definitely bring many benefits to ordinary people and the economic development of the city and region. Where in the "south" will Guangzhou Southern Airport be built? According to relevant sources, the southern airport may be located in Panyu Dagang, Lanhe and Dongyong towns that are included in Nansha. Although the economies of these three towns are not too developed, they are rich in land resources and have large usable space. Experts said that based on the experience of cities with dual airports such as Beijing and Shanghai, the construction of new airports should be closely connected with subways and train stations. Therefore, if Guangzhou wants to build a southern airport, it will definitely choose a place with convenient transportation to the south station. The three towns in Panyu that are included in Nansha are not far from the South Railway Station and have abundant land resources, so they have become a reference for site selection. What can the construction of Guangzhou’s second airport bring to Guangzhou? Researcher Peng Peng said that first of all, the airport has invested hundreds of billions. This investment alone can greatly boost Guangzhou's economic development. In addition, various supporting facilities of the new airport can also be radiated to surrounding areas. Shang Yi believes that if the airport is located in Nansha and is directly south of Guangzhou South Railway Station, it can be developed in conjunction with the South Railway Station to form a large-scale transportation hub. As for the land for the airport site and surrounding supporting land, including commercial land, even one hundred square kilometers is not too much for Greater Nansha, because it will drive other hundreds of square kilometers, where a new Guangzhou will appear. From this point of view, the construction of a second airport in Guangzhou is good news for Guangzhou!